Preexisting subclinical neuropathy as a risk factor for nerve injury after continuous ropivacaine administration through a femoral nerve catheter

NERVE injury is a well-recognized complication of peripheral nerve blocks. Capdevila et al.(1) reported an incidence of 0.21% in a large prospective multicenter study including more than 1,400 patients with perineural catheters. Beside factors related to the regional anesthesia technique,(1) other causes such as concomitant patient disease, inadequate positioning or manipulation during surgery, 3 and the neurotoxicity of local anesthetics(4,5) have been implicated. We report on a patient who developed a femoral neuropathy after continuous femoral block. The only risk factor found in this patient was a postoperatively discovered, preexisting subclinical polyneuropathy.