Addition of Popliteal Plexus Block to Continuous Femoral Nerve Block for Total Knee Arthroplasty

The popliteal plexus block has been described as an alternative analgesic postoperative pain treatment for total knee arthroplasty. It consists of injecting local anaeshetics inside the distal end of the adductor canal close to the adductor hiatus, adjacent to the femoral artery, between the medial vastus muscle and the adductor magnus muscle, in order to anesthetize the popliteal plexus. However, the analgesic efficacy has never been demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial. Therefore the objective of this study is to investigate the analgesic benefit of this block combined with a continuous femoral nerve block, on patients scheduled for total knee athroplasty.