Patient-Titrated Automated Intermittent Boluses of Local Anesthetic vs. a Continuous Infusion Via a Perineural Catheter for Postoperative Analgesia

Patients will receive a continuous infusion of Ropivacaine 0.2% (6 mL/hr popliteal-sciatic and 8 mL/hr infraclavicular, 4 mL patient controlled bolus with 30-minute lockout) will be initiated in the recovery room.

"Patients will receive patient-titratable intermittent boluses of Ropivacaine 0.2% (8 mL popliteal-sciatic or 11 mL infraclavicular automated bolus every 120 minutes, 4 mL patient controlled bolus with 30-minute lockout). In addition, the infusion pump will be set in a pause mode that delays initiation of the automated bolus doses by 5 hours (this can be over-ridden by patients if they would like to initiate their perineural infusion earlier than 5 hours). Lastly, subjects will be able to titrate the volume of their automated bolus up or down within the range of 1-16 mL."