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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

, Volume 468, Issue 5, pp 1242–1247 | Cite as

Postoperative Analgesia in TKA: Ropivacaine Continuous Intraarticular Infusion

  • Primitivo Gómez-CarderoEmail author
  • E. Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán
Symposium: Current Issues in Knee Reconstruction
First Online:

Abstract

Background

Postoperative pain control is a challenge in patients undergoing TKA due to side effects and technical limitations of current analgesic approaches. Local anesthetic infiltration through continuous infusion pumps has been shown to reduce postoperative pain in previous studies.

Questions/purposes

We assessed the effectiveness of intraarticular ropivacaine infusions in reducing pain and postoperative opioid use after TKA and determined whether such infusions accelerate functional recovery of the patient and reduce length of hospital stay.

Methods

In a randomized, prospective, double-blind study, two groups were assigned: Group A (n = 25) underwent continuous intraarticular infusion with 300 mL ropivacaine 0.2% at a speed of 5 mL/hour through an elastomeric infusion pump and Group B (n = 25) had an elastomeric pump insertion with 300 mL saline solution at an infusion speed of 5 mL/hour. All patients had the same prosthesis model implanted. Parameters analyzed over the first 3 days, at discharge, and 1 month later included postoperative pain, joint function, opioid use, and length of hospital stay.

Results

All patients in Group A showed a decrease in pain intensity measured by a visual analog scale and opioid use in the first 3 days. Mean length of hospital stay was also reduced in Group A (5.72 days) compared to Group B (7.32 days). There were no device-related complications.

Conclusions

Use of an infusion pump is effective in treating pain after TKA, reducing postoperative pain and opioid use. It also improves immediate functionality and patient comfort, reducing the mean length of hospital stay, without increasing the risk of complications.

Level of Evidence

Level I, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Keywords

Morphine Postoperative Pain Bupivacaine Ropivacaine Ketorolac 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons® 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Primitivo Gómez-Cardero
    • 1
    • 2
    Email author
  • E. Carlos Rodríguez-Merchán
    • 1
  1. 1.Knee Division, Department of OrthopedicsLa Paz University HospitalMadridSpain
  2. 2.MadridSpain

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