Postoperative analgesia and follow-up
femoral nerve block, NRS, pain
Multimodal analgesia was provided to keep the numeric rating pain score at rest (NRS, a 11-score scale, 0 indicating no pain and 10 for worst pain) less than 3. First, patient controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) pump was provided. It was programmed to deliver background infusion of sufentanil at a rate of 1 μg/h and a bolus of 2 μg sufentanil on demand with 8 min lockout time. Second, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, flurbiprofen 50 mg, parecoxib 40 mg or ketorolac 30 mg) was initially given at end of surgery and then at 12 h interval until postoperative 72 h. Third, ultrasound guided femoral nerve block for knee surgery or fascia iliaca compartment block for hip surgery was conducted with a single injection of 0.3% ropivacaine 20 ml.Patients were visited twice daily (07:00–09:00 and 19:00–21:00, respectively) during postoperative first 3 days and then once daily during in-hospital stay. After discharge, patients were interviewed by telephone at postoperative 30 days.