• U Santanen, P Rautoma, H Luurila, and O Erkola.
• The Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.
• Ann Chir Gynaecol. 2001 Jan 1;90(1):47-50.

Background And AimsTo evaluate the effect of intra-articular ropivacaine injection on postoperative knee pain after day case arthroscopy.Material And MethodsWe studied one hundred outpatients in a prospective, randomized, double-blind fashion to examine the postoperative analgesic effect of intra-articular ropivacaine or saline injected into the knee joint after day-case knee arthroscopy performed under spinal anaesthesia. Patients were interviewed postoperatively with a standardized questionnaire. The postoperative pain was measured using a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS).ResultsThere were no statistically significant differences in the VAS scores of knee pain eight hours or more after the operation between the intra-articular ropivacaine and saline groups, and there was no significant difference in the need for postoperative pain killer.ConclusionsThis study failed to demonstrate a decrease in postoperative VAS scores at eight hours and later postoperatively when 20 ml of ropivacaine 0.5% were injected intra-articularly after day-case knee arthroscopy performed under spinal anaesthesia. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the need for postoperative pain medication between the study groups.

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