This study concluded that combined sciatic-femoral nerve block is technically easy to perform and it can be an alternative for unilateral blockade of the lower limbs. Unilateral spinal anesthesia with low doses of bupivacaine resulted in shorter time to perform it, lower number of attempts, and earlier recovery than combined sciatic-femoral nerve block, but with the same efficacy.

Summary: Imbelloni LE, Rezende GVP, Ganem EM, Cordeiro JA -Comparative Study between Combined Sciatic-Femoral Nerve Block, via a Single Skin Injection, and Spinal Block Anesthesia for Unilateral Surgery of the Lower Limb. Background and objectives:Unilateral spinal anesthesia has advantages when used in outpatient basis. The objective of the present study was to compare unilateral spinal anesthesia with combined sciatic-femoral nerve block in unilateral orthopedic surgeries in outpatients.