Perioperative analgesia and postoperative motor function after saphenous and sciatic nerve blocks in goats undergoing bilateral stifle surgery: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The combination of femoral and sciatic nerve blocks offers adequate perioperative analgesia for goats undergoing stifle surgery. However, postoperatively, residual motor dysfunction may lead to distress and discomfort. This study evaluated whether combined saphenous and sciatic nerve blocks provide adequate perioperative analgesia without clinically relevant postoperative pelvic limb motor impairment. METHODS: In this prospective, randomised, blinded study, 19 female goats undergoing bilateral stifle arthrotomy received bilateral ultrasound-guided saphenous and neurostimulator-guided sciatic nerve blocks. Group Bupivacaine/Lidocaine (BL) received 0.5% bupivacaine for the saphenous block and 2% lidocaine for the sciatic block; group Lidocaine/Lidocaine (LL) received 2% lidocaine for both blocks. Dexmedetomidine (0.25 µg/kg) was added per block. Ketamine was administered intraoperatively if pulse rate or mean arterial pressure increased by more than 20% from baseline. RESULTS: Of nine goats, intraoperative ketamine was required in three goats in group BL and one goat in group LL. Two goats in each group showed proprioceptive deficits 30 minutes after extubation, but none did so at 60 minutes. No significant differences were detected for any measured variable. LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by small sample size, lack of a control group and use of a non-validated postoperative pain scale. CONCLUSION: Combined saphenous and sciatic nerve blocks provided clinically useful intraoperative and early postoperative analgesia as part of a multimodal analgesic protocol without clinically relevant motor blockade in goats undergoing bilateral stifle arthrotomy. Overall, no statistically significant differences were detected in this pilot study.