• Yang Zhou, Tu-Bao Yang, Jie Wei, Chao Zeng, Hui Li, Tuo Yang, and Guang-Hua Lei.
• Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan Province, China.
• Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2016 May 1; 24 (5): 1651-9.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to appraise the efficacy and safety of single-dose intra-articular ropivacaine administered for pain relief after arthroscopic knee surgery.MethodsPubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched in October 2014 to identify randomized controlled trials of single-dose intra-articular ropivacaine for post-operative pain relief. Post-operative pain intensity, the amount of rescue analgesia required, and side effects including local anaesthetic toxicity were assessed. The relative risk (RR), the weighted mean difference (WMD), and their corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated.ResultsEight randomized controlled trials were included in the analysis. Statistically significant differences in the visual analogue scale for pain intensity value were observed during the immediate post-operative period (WMD -10.35, 95 % CI -17.12 to -3.59, p = 0.003) and the early post-operative period (WMD -11.90, 95 % CI -18.12 to -5.69, p = 0.0002), but not during the late post-operative period (WMD -2.89, 95 % CI -7.46 to 1.68, n.s.). There was no significant difference in the amount of rescue analgesia required (RR 0.76, 95 % CI 0.52-1.11, n.s.). Only two trials reported the incidence of drug-related side effects (including nausea and vomiting): the incidence in the ropivacaine groups was no higher than that in the control groups. Only one trial assessed local anaesthetic toxicity as an outcome, but it was not detected.ConclusionsSingle-dose intra-articular ropivacaine administered at the end of arthroscopic knee surgery provides effective pain relief in the immediate and early post-operative periods without increasing short-term side effects.

26 keywords...

hide…