Orthopedics This Week reports on HSS study findings published in the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia by anesthesiologist Stavros G. Memtsoudis, MD, PhD, MBA.

The retrospective study analyzed nearly 2 million patients in the Premier Healthcare database who underwent elective total knee and hip arthroplasty (TKA/THA) from 2006 to 2019. Researchers looked at use of neuraxial anesthesia and use of a peripheral block, using four separate models for each outcome and their association with white/non-white race.

Dr. Memtsoudis said, “From our previous studies, we do know that disparities in anesthetic care amongst patients of different backgrounds exist. These disparities are especially problematic when they are associated with different outcomes such as when general vs. neuraxial anesthesia is being used or peripheral nerve blocks are or are not utilized. However, it is not clear if such disparities remain present in hospitals that perform high volumes of surgeries and thus are more likely to protocolize their care.”

He explained, “We did find that indeed for some orthopedic interventions disparities in anesthetic care disappeared or were reduced in hospitals with higher volumes.”

Dr. Memtsoudis continued, “Our data suggest that hospitals performing high volumes of joint arthroplasties may have reduced disparities in anesthetic care. Although speculative, this may be due to the higher chance of care being protocolized rather than leaving best practices up to individual providers.”

Read the full article at Ryortho.com.