“What type of anesthesia is used for knee surgery?”
I am a 48 year old male. I want to know what type of anesthesia is used for knee surgery?
8 Answers
For endoscopic surgery, on average, general anesthesia. For joint replacements, nerve blocks are preferred. You must sort this out with your surgical and anesthesia team.
Either spinal or general anesthesia.
A simple knee arthroscopy is usually achieved with a quick general anesthetic using an LMA (Laryngeal mask airway), as opposed to an endotracheal tube. A femoral nerve block in addition to general anesthesia is indicated for more invasive arthroscopic knee surgeries. The block can usually provide excellent postoperative pain control. When a total knee arthroplasty (replacement) is planned, either a spinal block or general anesthetic +/- femoral block is often administered.
When you say knee surgery, are you referring to a knee scope or total knee joint replacement? Both can be done under general anesthesia with a breathing tube or with sedation and local anesthesia ( numbing medicine.) For a knee scope the sites for cameras and instruments are numbed then you’re given twilight anesthesia without a breathing tube. For total knee replacement a spinal can be performed to numb from the waist down along with other injections for post operative pain control.
Usually a nerve block with sedation.
It depends on the type of knee surgery you’re having and the duration of the surgery. Generally regional anesthesia, spinal/epidural anesthesia or general anesthesia can be used.
General anesthesia preferred although you could also have a regional anesthetic like peripheral nerve block with sedation.
Either general or regional (spinal) anesthesia
