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Intra-operative local anaesthetic infiltration provides good early pain relief after Unicompartmental Knee Replacement (UKR). However, appreciable pain may occur on the day after surgery. The purpose of this double-blinded, prospective randomised controlled trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of a bolus of local intra-articular anaesthetic given early on the day after surgery. Forty-four patients were randomised to receive an intra-articular injection, via an epidural catheter inserted at operation, of either 20 ml 0.5% plain bupivacaine or 20 ml normal saline. All patients received a femoral nerve block with 20 ml prilocaine 1% and local anaesthetic infiltration by the surgeon. Patients injected with bupivacaine had significantly less (p<0.001) pain than control patients immediately (mean pain score 1.82 v 6.1) and 6 hours (2.5 v 5.7) after injection. Patient satisfaction was also significantly greater (p<0.001) in the local anaesthetic group. We conclude that a bolus dose of intra-articular bupivacaine early on the day after surgery dramatically improves pain control after UKR and improves patient satisfaction.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.knee.2011.04.010

Type

Journal article

Journal

Knee

Publication Date

08/2012

Volume

19

Pages

352 - 355

Keywords

Anesthetics, Local, Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee, Bupivacaine, Double-Blind Method, Humans, Injections, Intra-Articular, Osteoarthritis, Knee, Pain, Postoperative, Patient Satisfaction