Low Dose Spinal Bupivacaine for Total Knee Replacement and Recovery Room Wait Time

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2008-12-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

This study plans to investigate whether a reduced dose of bupivacaine (a local anesthetic numbing drug) injected into the spinal space for a total knee replacement will result in a shorter time to discharge from the recovery room while maintaining adequate surgical anesthesia.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Queen's University
• Treatments: Anesthetics; Bupivacaine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients undergoing elective one-sided total knee replacement for osteoarthritis at our institution where spinal anesthesia has been chosen by the patient and the anesthetist

Exclusion Criteria:

• Contraindications to spinal anesthesia (such as increase pressure in brain, bleeding disorder, serious valvular heart disease, serious infection in the blood or on your lower back, certain neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, desire for a general anesthetic)

• Allergies to local anesthetics, morphine or fentanyl

• Both knees being done at same surgery

• Revision of a previous knee replacement

• Knee replacement for reasons other than osteoarthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis)

• Potential for difficult intubation in case of need for general anesthetic

• Patients under 150 cm or over 200 cm

• BMI greater than 40

• Lack of patient consent or patient refusal