Local Anesthetic Adjuvants Providing the Longest Duration of Analgesia for Single- Injection Peripheral Nerve Blocks in Orthopedic Surgery: A Literature Review.

Inadequate pain relief after surgery may delay surgical recovery, decrease patient satisfaction, increase length of stay, raise the risk of hospital readmissions, and increase overall healthcare costs. One way to decrease postoperative pain for patients undergoing orthopedic surgery is through the use of peripheral nerve blocks. Anesthesia providers can add many adjuvants to local anesthetics to improve quality and prolong duration of analgesia. The purpose of this literature review is to evaluate local anesthetic adjuvants to peripheral nerve blocks. A review of published studies using PubMed, MEDLINE, and Cochrane search engines was performed using predefined data fields. Based on this literature review, recommendations for practice are provided.