Papers of the Week

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is frequently associated with severe, prolonged postsurgical pain, and therefore local anesthetic-based peripheral nerve blocks are commonly used for postoperative analgesia. Cryoneurolysis involves the use of freezing temperatures to provide a reversible sensory (and motor) block with a duration measured in weeks and months, more commensurate with the typical period of post-TKA pain. We therefore conducted a randomized controlled pilot study to evaluate the use of this modality for the treatment of pain following TKA to (1) determine the feasibility of and optimize the study protocol for a subsequent definitive clinical trial; and (2) estimate analgesia and opioid reduction within the first 3 postoperative weeks.