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Abstract Context: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) associated with moderate-to-severe surgical site pain postoperatively requires multimodal analgesia for which adductor canal block (ACB) is an effective modality. Aims: The aim of this study was to compare the analgesic efficacy of continuous versus single-shot ACB in patients undergoing unilateral TKA. Settings and Design: It was a prospective randomized controlled trial carried out in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: Sixty patients (18–65 years) undergoing unilateral TKA were prospectively randomized into continuous (CACB) and single (SACB) shot adductor canal blockade groups. Postoperative ultrasound-guided ACB was given, and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, time to first rescue analgesia, and total amount of analgesia required in 24 and 48 h were noted. Straight leg raise (SLR) test and maximum knee extension test were performed to check for quadriceps muscle strength. Statistical Analysis: Both the groups were compared using appropriate statistical tests, with P < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: In both the demographically comparable groups, VAS scores were similar at 0, 4, 8, and 12 h postsurgery, but higher in the SACB group at 24 ( P < 0.0001) and 48 h ( P = 0.02), needing rescue analgesia in 4 out of 30 patients. One out of 30 patients of the SACB group could not perform the SLR test on the 1 st postoperative day. Knee extension was present in all 60 patients. Conclusions: ACB is a pure sensory block. CACB provides a longer duration of analgesia; however, SACB can be an equally useful alternative in resource-limited settings, to avoid catheter dislodgement, risk of infection, and need for continuous monitoring.
Choudhary et al. (Wed,) studied this question.