Objective: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) results in severe postoperative pain requiring hospitalization to provide potent analgesia. Consequently, the average duration of hospitalization after THA in the United States is 4 to 5 days. This prospective study investigated the feasibility of converting THA into an overnight-stay procedure using a continuous psoas compartment nerve block provided at home with a portable infusion pump.

Case Report: Preoperatively, patients undergoing THA had a psoas compartment perineural catheter placed. Postoperatively, perineural ropivacaine 0.2% was delivered through postoperative day (POD) 4. Patients were discharged home when they met specific, prospectively defined criteria, as early as POD 3 for the first phase and POD 1 for the second phase. Of the patients in the first phase (n = 7) who remained hospitalized for at least 3 postoperative nights, 5 met discharge criteria on POD 1 and the remainder on POD 2. Of the patients in phase 2 (n = 5), all but 1 met discharge criteria on POD 1 and 3 were discharged directly home on POD 1. Postoperative pain was well controlled, opioid requirements and sleep disturbances were minimal, and patient satisfaction high.

Conclusions: These results suggest that for a subset of patients without major comorbidities, it is feasible to convert THA into an overnight-stay procedure using an ambulatory continuous psoas compartment nerve block as part of a multimodal analgesic regimen provided at home. Additional research is required to replicate these results in a controlled trial, define the appropriate subset of patients, and assess the incidence of complications associated with this practice before its mainstream use.