“Can knee surgery be done under local anesthesia?”
I will have knee replacement surgery. I don't want to have general anesthesia. Can knee replacement surgery be done under local anesthesia?
5 Answers
Depends on the procedure, some yes, some no.
Knee arthroscopy could potentially be done with nerve blocks of several nerves, which is rather labor intensive. Total knee replacements are often performed under spinal anesthesia block. Simple knee arthroscopies could be done with spinal block, but this is not common, as the block must take a significant amount of time to resolve prior to discharge from an outpatient facility. I would choose general anesthesia.
"Knee replacement" or total knee arthroplasty cannot be tolerated by any patient without supplemental general anesthesia, although most often it is accompanied by nerve blocks that significantly attenuate the postoperative pain. You would never be able to tolerate that sort of surgery without general anesthesia.
Knee replacement surgery cannot be done under local anesthesia, but regional options (spinal, epidural) are available. You should speak to your surgeon and anesthesiologist to get the full picture.
Jay R. Shayevitz, MD MS
Jay R. Shayevitz, MD MS
Knee replacement surgery can be done under regional anesthesia and neuraxia (epidural/spinal anesthetic) if the patient is determined by the anesthesiologist to be medically fit enough to undergo such anesthesia. Knee replacement is too extensive to be done under local anesthesia.
