A 73-year-old female (body weight 64 kg, ASA status III) who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for 30 years was scheduled for right total knee arthroplasty (TKA). X-ray of her bilateral knee joint revealed that the joint cavity of bilateral knee joints was narrow and osteophyte formatted in the right side. The patient had hypertension for 6 years and was treated with oral nitrendipine. She also had a history of cerebral infarction 3 years ago. MRI of brain revealed multiple old softening foci in the right basal ganglia region. She had taken aspirin and ginkgo tablets for anticoagulation therapy and prevention of recurrent stroke. The preoperative visual analog scale (VAS) score of this patient was 4. The ultrasound-guided lumbar SNRB plus T12 paravertebral and sacral plexus blocks were performed with 25 mL of 0.4% ropivacaine. Pinprick test was used to confirm the success of these blocks. This technique completely met the analgesic requirement of this patient during surgery. The time of surgery was 1 hour and 12 minutes. With the PCA, the postoperative VAS scores were 0 to 1. This patient discharged on the third day after surgery. No postoperative complication was reported with her.
Case 3: A 26 years old female (weight 47 kg, ASA status II) was scheduled for left total hip arthroplasty. She was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis 14 years ago, with pain on almost all major joints of her body. She could not stand or walk because of bilateral femoral head necrosis. She had a family history of ankylosing spondylitis, with her father also suffered from this disease. Physical examination revealed rigidity of neck and left hip joint. X-ray of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae reported rigidity of the spine, calcification of interspinous ligament. X-ray of bilateral sacra-iliac joints, hip joints, knees and ankles reported narrow joint space, osteoproliferation, bone defect and joint deformity. The chest X-ray reported texture enhancement of bilateral lungs and infection of right lower lobe.