Speakers
Dr. Robbie ERSKINE
United Kingdom
Qualified University College London 1984
Trained in anaesthesia in, Leicester, Derby and Nottingham UK. I have been a consultant in Derby since 1994.
I have a career long interest in Regional and Spinal anaesthesia.
Areas of regular practice include RA for upper and lower limb surgery, Orthopaedics, with a particular interest in knee surgery, post op analgesia for major knee surgery and day case spinal anaesthesia.
I have extensive experience in the use of Prilocaine and 2-chloroprocaine for spinal anaesthesia since 2010 and have lectured extensively on their clinical application.
I authored a BJA educational article on spinal anaesthesia for ambulatory surgery.
I can boast a Belgian grandmother, a Scottish father, an Irish wife, three beautiful daughters and a particular interest in rebuilding and driving classic cars….when not running, cycling, skiing or tending to my garden.
Knee arthroplasty is associated with severe post operative pain and thus presents challenges for the ambulatory setting. Knee surgery is particularly suited to pain management using regional analgesia.
The use of epidural analgesia or proximal sciatic and femoral nerve blocks are effective but result in significant motor impairment thus limiting physiotherapy and mobility and delaying discharge on the day of surgery. Local infiltration analgesia is in use but has limited effect and duration.
Over the last 3-4 years ultrasound guided “motor sparing” nerve blocks have been developed that achieve excellent analgesia whilst avoiding motor weakness and allow patients to mobilise pain free.
In this presentation I will discuss the evolution of analgesia for knee arthroplasty, describe the anatomy of the nerve supply involved, advise on decision-making and describe the nerve blocks required. I’ll finish with some take away “recipes” to help practitioners get started.
