Harvesting of the hamstrings for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction can be a significant cause of postoperative pain along the course of the stripped tendons. This can be attenuated via direct infusion of local anaesthesia.1 We have devised a technique for administering local anaesthetic along the hamstring graft harvest tract.
A Kendall Argyle™ (Covidien LP, Gosport, UK) suction catheter is trimmed to length and stabilised with a femoral tunnel depth gauge (Fig 1). This device is inserted along the course of the harvested hamstring tendons; the depth gauge is removed. We inject 62.5mg of bupivacaine made up to a total volume of 50ml with normal saline 0.9% as the catheter is withdrawn. This is given as a single bolus with no subsequent top-up.
Figure 1.
A Kendall Argyle™ suction catheter trimmed to length and stabilised with a femoral tunnel depth gauge
Reference
- 1.Bushnell BD, Sakryd G, Noonan TJ. Hamstring donor-site block: evaluation of pain control after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Arthroscopy. 2010;26:894–900. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2009.11.022. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]