Chloroprocaine Spinal for Outpatient Knee Surgery

A Comparison Study to Facilitate Earlier Discharge: Spinal Versus General Anesthesia for Outpatient Knee Surgeries, a Randomized Controlled Study

Outpatient knee surgeries with duration of less than one hour pose a challenge to the use of spinal anesthesia given that traditional agents remain in effect for 2-3 hours, thus creating a mismatch between length of surgery and anesthetic resolution. The investigators hypothesize that the use of chloroprocaine can combine the benefits of a short spinal anesthetic while avoiding the side effects of a general anesthetic, thus promoting earlier discharge.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients scheduled for a knee arthroscopy that is anticipated to be less than one hour
• Age 18 to 80 years
• Ability to follow study protocol
• English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• Hepatic or renal insufficiency
• Younger than 18 years old and older than 80
• Allergy or intolerance to one of the study medications
• Chronic gabapentin/pregabalin use (regular use for longer than 3 months)
• Chronic opioid use (taking opioids for longer than 3 months)
• Patients unable to undergo a spinal anesthetic or Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA)/GA or patient refusal to spinal anesthesia or LMA/GA