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Mayo Clinic
Analgesic Pathway
Peripheral Nerve Blockade for Major Orthopedic Surgery
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Mayo Clinic
Analgesic Pathway
Peripheral Nerve Blockade for Major Orthopedic Surgery
Robert L. Lennon, D.O.
Supplemental Consultant
Department of Anesthesiology
Mayo Clinic
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, Minnesota
Terese T. Horlocker, M.D.
Consultant
Department of Anesthesiology
Mayo Clinic
Professor of Anesthesiology and of Orthopedics
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, Minnesota
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section I: Principles of Lower Extremity Peripheral Nerve Block. . . 1
1. Neural Anatomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Dermatomes and Osteotomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3. Preoperative Assessment and Monitoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4. Techniques and Equipment for Neural Localization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5. Selection of Local Anesthetic and Adjuvants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6. Neurologic Complications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Section II: Lumbar Plexus Block. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
7. Psoas Compartment Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
8. Fascia Iliaca Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
9. Femoral Nerve Block. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10. Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve Block. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
11. Obturator Nerve Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
12. Saphenous Nerve Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Section III: Sciatic Nerve Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
13. Classic Posterior Approach of Labat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
14. Parasacral Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
15. Subgluteal Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
16. Anterior Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
17. Lateral Popliteal Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
18. Posterior Popliteal Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
19. Ankle Block. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Section IV: Mayo Clinic Analgesic Pathway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
20. Mayo Clinic Total Joint Anesthesia and Analgesic Pathway . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
21. Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia in the Patient
Receiving Thromboprophylaxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
22. Management of Inpatient Peripheral Nerve Catheters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
23. Management of Ambulatory Peripheral Nerve Catheters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
24. Nursing Management of Peripheral Nerve Catheters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
25. Future Directions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
v
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FOREWORD
D
espite the explosion of new techniques and technologies, the single most
important change in my practice in the past several years has been the introduction
of perioperative regional block protocols. The entire perioperative experience for
patients having hip and knee arthroplasty has been improved because of this
multidisciplinary approach. Undoubtedly, this approach will be shown to lead
to significantly lower narcotic use, a more benign postoperative course with
fewer medical complications, lower overall hospital costs, and higher patient
satisfaction. These results will lead to the expectation, by patients and physicians,
that these block protocols are included in the standard of care. I am indebted to
my anesthesia colleagues for the hard work that is required each and every day to
make these protocols work for patients. As a surgeon, I undoubtedly receive far
more of the credit and gratitude from my patients than deserved.
Arlen D. Hanssen, M.D.
Consultant, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic
Professor of Orthopedics, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, Minnesota
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PREFACE
“Regional anesthesia has come to stay.” These words by surgeon William J. Mayo,
M.D., opened the foreword to Regional Anesthesia: Its Technic and Clinical Application,
by Gaston Labat, M.D. Published in 1922, Labat’s text popularized regional anesthesia
in the United States by describing techniques already familiar to European surgeons and
anesthesiologists. Importantly, Labat described the use of infiltration and peripheral,
plexus, and splanchnic blockade (using cocaine and procaine) for head and neck,
intrathoracic, intra-abdominal, and extremity surgery. The techniques of peripheral
neural blockade were developed early in the history of anesthesia, and over time neuraxial
and general anesthesia, with their improved safety, supplanted their use.
Recently, the introduction of long-acting local anesthetics and adjuvants, the
refinement of imaging methods to facilitate neural localization, and innovations
in equipment technology, including stimulating needles, catheters, and portable
infusion devices, have increased the success rate and popularity of peripheral
blockade. Undoubtedly, peripheral nerve blocks represent a new era in regional
anesthesia and analgesia. Competence in these techniques is crucial to future
practice models. However, adequate training and proficiency affect utilization.
A nationwide survey reported that 98% of anesthesiologists perform peripheral
techniques but most perform fewer than five per month (although the majority
predict increased use in the future). Likewise, despite improvements in needle and
catheter technology and neural localization, these blocks often remain underutilized
and challenging. Studies evaluating proficiency in technical skills have noted that
regional anesthetic procedures are significantly more difficult to learn than the
basic manual skills necessary for general anesthetic procedures, such as intubation
and arterial cannulation. Also, the majority of resident training programs do not
provide formal instruction in peripheral blockade.
In 2003, a multidisciplinary group of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses,
pharmacists, and physical therapists implemented the Mayo Clinic total joint
analgesic pathway, a multimodal approach that utilized peripheral regional
techniques and oralanalgesics (no long-acting or intravenous opioids were
administered). The results were truly remarkable. With the use of strict dismissal
criteria, 95% of patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty and 80% of patients
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