Comparing the analgesic effects of femoral triangle block and adductor canal block following total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract Objective The present study compared the postoperative analgesic effects of femoral triangle block (FTB) with adductor canal block (ACB) in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving the analgesic effects of FTB and ACB post-TKA were collected by searching PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, CNKI, and VIP databases from inception till March 2024. The primary outcomes of the study focused on pain scores in resting and activity states, and the secondary outcomes examined the quadriceps muscle strength, postoperative adverse reaction incidence rate, and patient satisfaction scores. Results Six RCTs published between 2020 and 2023 were included, which involved altogether 452 patients, with 226 each in the FTB and ACB groups. No significant difference was observed in the resting and activity pain scores at 6, 12, and 24 h between the FTB and ACB groups (P > 0.05). In contrast, at 48 h, the ACB group exhibited better activity pain scores than those in the FTB group (P 0.05). Conclusion The ACB group demonstrated a certain advantage over the FTB group in the immediate postoperative quadriceps muscle strength recovery. The FTB group showed a better analgesic effect at 48 h than the ACB group. No significant differences were observed in the postoperative adverse reaction incidence rates and patient satisfaction scores between the two groups. Nonetheless, because of the differences in the enrolled articles, further large-scale, high-quality RCTs should be conducted to verify whether ACB is more effective and safer than FTB.

Keywords

• Femoral triangle block
• Adductor canal block
• Total knee arthroplasty
• Meta-analysis