Percutaneous periarticular analgesic injection at one day after simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty: an open-label randomized control trial.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The postoperative pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains a critical issue. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of percutaneous periarticular injection at 1 day following simultaneous bilateral TKA. METHODS: A total of 88 knees in 44 patients who underwent simultaneous bilateral TKA were randomly assigned to receive a percutaneous periarticular injection at 1 day following surgery (n = 22 patients) or no injection (n = 22 patients). In the additional injection group, we injected a solution including methylprednisolone, ropivacaine, and epinephrine into the muscle belly of the vastus medialis at 1 day after surgery. In both groups, patients received an intraoperative periarticular multi-drug injection and postoperative intravenous and oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The primary outcome measure was the postoperative pain at rest using a visual analog scale (VAS) and analyzed with Student's t test. RESULTS: Compared to the no additional injection group, the additional periarticular injection group had significantly lower VAS score at 800 PM postoperative day 1, 600 AM postoperative day 2, 1200 PM postoperative day 2, 600 AM postoperative day 5, 1200 PM postoperative day 5, and 800 PM postoperative day 5 (p < 0.05). The rate of complication did not differ between groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Additional percutaneous periarticular injection at 1 day following TKA adding to intraoperative periarticular injection provided better postoperative pain relief. TRIAL REGISTRATION Registered at the University Hospital Medical Information Network (registration number UMIN000029759 ).