Improved Ultrasound Imaging Makes Femoral Nerve Blocks Viable Choice for Post-Op Pain
Newer equipment and improved ultrasound imaging make femoral nerve blocks a more viable choice for post-operative pain relief in total joint replacements, allowing patients to block pain just where it hurts, according to a WRAL report.
While spinal anesthesia necessitates morphine or other narcotic drugs for post-operative pain, frequently leaving patients too sick or weak to begin rehabilitation, femoral nerve blocks allow enough sensation to begin rehabilitation of the joint.
Susan Steele, MD, an anesthesiologist at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., said nerve blocks minimize requirements for narcotics and allow patients to get back to work sooner. The nerve block can be performed using ultrasound to locate the femoral nerve, then inserting a catheter to deliver the pain medication, a relatively recent development that increase the procedure's feasibility.
Read the WRAL report on femoral nerve blocks.
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