DALLAS—Injecting long-acting liposomal bupivacaine into the tissue surrounding the knee during knee replacement surgery may provide a faster receovery and higher patient satisfaction, according to a report presented at the recent American Association for Hip and Knee Surgeons meeting.
“The pain scores for this injection technique averaged about 3/10, which is similar to the pain scores seen with our traditional method,” said Jason Davis, MD, a Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital joint replacement surgeon and senior study author. “Patients had pain relief for up to 2 days after surgery and better knee function compared with the traditional method.”
Jason Davis, MD
In the study, 216 patients were evaluated for pain control the first 2 days after surgery from October 2012 to September 2013. Half of the patients received the traditional pain control method with continuous femoral nerve blockade, in which common numbing medicine is injected into the groin area, blunting the main nerve down the front of the knee—a method that calls for a pain pump to extend pain control for two days but causes some leg weakness.
“Pain control came at the price of weakness and made patients somewhat tentative when walking during their hospital stay,” stated Dr. Davis.
The other half of patients received the liposomal bupivacaine injection at the site of the surgery. With this method, Dr. Davis says many patients were able to walk comfortably within hours after surgery.
Dr. Davis said that the injection around the knee itself “optimizes pain control early on” without the side effects of the traditional technique. “Function-wise, it was a lot easier for patients to move around more confidently,” Dr. Davis stated.
“In the past decade, we’ve made major advancements in pain control for knee replacement surgery. This option is a promising, viable one for our patients,” Dr. Davis said.