Pre-emptive intra-articular administration of local anaesthetics/opiates versus postoperative local anaesthetics/opiates or local anaesthetics in arthroscopic surgery of the knee joint: a prospective randomized trial

Review of intra-articular local anaesthetic administration in horses: Clinical indications, cytotoxicity, and outcomes

Equine practitioners frequently inject local anaesthetics (LA) intra-articularly in both diagnosis of lameness and for pain management intra- or post-operatively with synovial endoscopy. Recent reviews of the human and veterinary literature support the concept that chondrotoxicity of LA on joint tissues depends on the type of drug, dose administered, and duration of exposure. The purpose of this review is to summarise the current literature describing intra-articular local anaesthetic use, including both in vitro and in vivo studies, and to draw some comparisons to literature from other species where potential toxicity and duration of effect have been evaluated with the goal of advancing the field's understanding of intra-articular local anaesthetic use in horses, and indicating future directions for the field. The aggregate data available from all species, while generally sparse for horses, indicate that LA are rapidly cleared from the synovial fluid after injection, often within 30 min. In vitro data strongly suggest that lidocaine and bupivacaine are likely more chondrotoxic than other LA, although to what extent is still unknown, and cytotoxicity of LA may be mitigated through concurrent injection with HA, PRP, and drug combinations including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories and opioids. The current body of in vitro research is not reflective of the in vivo environment, and further in vitro work, if performed, should focus on mimicking the native joint environment, utilising PK data and joint/injection volumes to replicate the native environment more accurately within the joint and the expected exposures to LA.

Preemptive analgesia with intra-articular pethidine reduces pain after arthroscopic knee surgery

Background:

Postoperative pain relief is important in procedures of the lower extremity. Several previous studies have evaluated the efficacy of intra-articular (IA) pethidine as a compound, which has local anesthetic and opioid agonist properties, on postoperative pain relief in arthroscopic knee surgery (AKS). This study compared the postoperative analgesic effect of pre- and post-surgical IA pethidine administration in AKS.

Materials and Methods:

Seventy-five patients of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I and II undergoing AKS with general anesthesia were enrolled in this double-blind study. Patients were randomized in three equal groups to receive either 50 mg IA pethidine before surgical incision incision and saline after skin closure (PS), saline before surgical incision and pethedine after skin closure (SP), and only saline at two different times (SS). In each patient with operated knee joint, pain at rest and joint movement was evaluated at 1, 2, 6, 12, and 24 h after surgery completion using Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA)-repeated measure, t-paired, and Chi-square tests.

Results:

Postoperative pain score at rest and joint movement in PS group was significantly lower than those in other groups. The time (Mean ± SD) between completion of operation and patient's request for morphine, total morphine consumption (Mean ± SD) in postoperative 24 h, and the numbers of patients requesting analgesic in PS, SP, SS, groups were: 5.2 ± 1.3, 3.3 ± 1.5, and 2 ± 1.3 h (P < 0.05); 4.4 ± 2.4, 8.7 ± 2, and 11.6 ± 4.4 mg (P < 0.05); 11, 18, and 21 persons (P < 0.05), respectively.

Conclusion:

The present study shows that preemptive intra-articular pethidine 50 mg injection is more effective than preventive injection for postoperative pain relief at rest and joint movement in arthroscopic knee surgery.