Use of peripheral nerve block in ankle surgery as postoperative analgesia

Abstract

Objective:To evaluate the use of the peripheral nerve block of the foot and ankle as a method of postoperative analgesia.Methods: A case series study of patients submitted to peripheral nerve block after surgery with spinal anesthesia. The inclusion criteria were patients submitted to foot and ankle surgery at our institution. The patients filled out a postoperative questionnaire, assigning a score for pain intensity, according to the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and time of onset of the pain.Result:The patients reported a mean time of 14.50 hours for the onset of pain after the surgical procedure. The mean pain intensity score on the Visual Analog Scale was 2.94 immediately after surgery, 3.81 on day one after surgery, and 3.00 on day two after surgery. Conclusion:The study demonstrated that peripheral nerve block in the foot and ankle region maintained prolonged analgesia with low pain intensity, particularly immediately after surgery, enabling postoperative physiotherapy to the maximized.