Preoperative peripheral nerve blocks are not independently associated with improved functional outcome, patient satisfaction, or risk of chronic pain at one year following knee arthroplasty.

Aims: Control of acute pain following knee arthroplasty (KA) with a perioperative peripheral nerve block (PNB) may improve functional outcomes and reduce the risk of chronic postoperative knee pain (CPKP). The aims of this study were to assess whether a PNB influences patient-reported outcomes and risk of CPKP at one year following KA.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted over a two-year period and included 3,338 patients who underwent KA, of whom 1,434 (43.0%) had a lower limb PNB. A total of 2,588 patients (77.6%) completed and returned their one-year follow-up questionnaire. The Oxford Knee Score (OKS) and pain component (OKS-PS), EuroQol five-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D), and EQ-visual analogue scale (VAS) were collected preoperatively and at one year postoperatively. Patient satisfaction was also recorded at one year. The OKS-PS was used to define CPKP at one year.

Results: The PNB group were younger (mean difference (MD) 0.7 years, 95% CI 0.0 to 1.3; p = 0.039), had a worse OKS (MD 0.7, 95% CI 0.1 to 1.3; p = 0.027), and were more likely to have had a spinal anaesthesia relative to a general anaesthetic (odds ratio 4.2, 95% CI 3.23 to 5.45; p < 0.001). When adjusting for confounding factors, patients in the PNB group had a significantly reduced improvement in their OKS (MD -0.9, 95% CI -1.6 to -0.1; p = 0.022), which may not be clinically meaningful. There were no significant differences in the OKS-PS (p = 0.068), EQ-5D (p = 0.313), or EQ-VAS (0.855) between the groups when adjusting for confounding factors. When adjusting for confounding factors using binary regression analysis, there were no differences in patient satisfaction (p = 0.132) or in the risk of CPKP (p = 0.794) according to PNB group.

Conclusion: PNBs were independently associated with worse knee-specific outcomes, but whether these are clinically meaningful is not clear, as the difference was less than the minimal clinically important difference. Furthermore, PNBs were not independently associated with differences in health-related quality of life, patient satisfaction, or risk of CPKP.