Post-Operative Colonization Rates of Femoral Nerve Catheters Treated With Chlorhexidine-Impregnated Patch

Joint replacement is becoming an increasingly common procedure. In 2005, 534,000 total knee arthroplasties (TKA) were performed in the United States which is at a rate of 18.1 per 10,000 individuals, and the demand for primary TKA is projected to grow by 673% by 2030. Effective post-operative analgesia is an important component with regards to patient satisfaction and hospital stay. Regional anesthesia has been shown to decrease duration of surgery, need for transfusion, post-operative nausea and vomiting, and the incidence of thromboembolic disease in patients undergoing total knee or total hip replacement when compared with general anesthesia. Post-operatively, regional anesthesia has been shown to reduce pain scores and/or morphine consumption as well as opioid-related adverse effects. Epidural catheter or spinal anesthesia has become the standard of care at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for intraoperative management of TKA patients. General anesthesia is still occasionally used for patients that would strongly prefer a general anesthetic, those that are taking anticoagulation medications or with a coagulopathy, those with previous back surgery, and those with certain neurologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis or spina bifida. Comparison studies between lumbar epidural analgesia and femoral nerve catheters (FNC) for postoperative analgesia following TKA show no significant difference in pain scores, morphine consumption, or post-operative nausea and vomiting. However, epidural analgesia has been associated with higher incidence of hypotension and urinary retention. FNC's placed for postoperative pain allow patients to ambulate more effectively as there should not be much of a lower extremity motor block. Patients with a FNC for postoperative analgesia also do not require a urinary catheter which eliminates a common source of infection in postoperative patients. FNCs have also demonstrated improved rehabilitation times and decreased hospital stays whi