Peripheral Nerve Block Combined with Low-Dose General Anaesthesia in Elderly Patients Receiving Hip Arthroplasty.

Abstract

The study assessed the effectiveness and safety of nerve block combined with low-dose general anaesthesia in elderly hip arthroplasty patients, conducted by a meta-analysis of RCTs. Six trials involving 403 patients were identified from databases such as Cochrane, MEDLINE, and PubMed. The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference in pain scores at postoperative 12hours (95% CI, -2.39 to -0.35, p = 0.008) and 24hours (95% CI, -1.86 to -0.50, p = 0.0007). Nerve block in combination with general anaesthesia holds a significant advantage over conventional general anaesthesia regarding perioperative opioid consumption (95% CI, -38.32 to -7.48, p = 0.004). This combined approach was superior in reducing the incidence of complications (95% CI, 0.11 to 0.55, p = 0.0007). However, between the two groups, there was no statistically significant difference in the 48hour pain score (95% CI, -2.58 to 0.62, p = 0.23). Essentially, this approach effectively reduces early post-surgical pain and it minimises anaesthetic use, whilst simultaneously lowering the risk of complications. Key Words: Nerve block, Elderly patients, Hip arthroplasty, Pain, Postoperative complication.