Massive Study: 7.2% Complication Rate for Nerve Block in Foot Surgery

The use of a peripheral nerve block in foot and ankle surgery is associated with postoperative complications of around 7.2%. That complication rate is considered very low, according to a study recently presented at the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada.

Casey Tongle, writer for Healio Orthopaedics Today, quoted presenter Grace Kunas, B.A., as saying, “Most of the complications are neurological in nature, and the majority of complications are un-attributable to the blocks.”

For the study Kunas and her colleagues collected data for surgical time, tourniquet time and demographics among 2, 516 patients who underwent 2, 704 foot and ankle procedures during a two-year period of time. They found that “out of the 290 complications, 195 of them were possibly related to the block, ” Kunas said. There were 20 complications judged to be serious and possibly related to the block. Of these, sixteen serious complications were unresolved, according to Tongle.

He quoted Kunas as saying, “We also found that complications possibly due to the block were significantly higher in those with the popliteal block compared to an ankle block but there was no difference otherwise in the complications likely due to the nerve block. Interestingly, this significance disappeared when we restricted the procedures to forefoot surgery only.” Tongle said that researchers identified dexamethasone as a significant predictor in the complications which was, at least possibly, due to the block.