Your patient, who is preparing to undergo unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA), asks about the difference in mortality and infection risks between general anesthesia (GA) and neuraxial anesthesia (NA). Based on the results of a recent study, what will you most likely tell your patient?
TKA is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the United States, with more than 500,000 procedures performed each year. The vast majority of patients undergoing this surgery are elderly and have significant comorbidities, which increase their risk of postoperative complications. It is well known that surgical stress may result in generalized immune suppression, placing this patient population at a higher risk for postoperative infections. It is believed that NA might attenuate surgical stress, thus minimizing the generalized immune suppression associated with surgery. In the past, small studies have shown that NA is beneficial in certain patient populations, but the small number of...