The Knee
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Intra-articular local anaesthetic on the day after surgery improves pain and patient satisfaction after Unicompartmental Knee Replacement: a randomised controlled trial.
Intra-operative local anaesthetic infiltration provides good early pain relief after Unicompartmental Knee Replacement (UKR). However, appreciable pain may occur on the day after surgery. The purpose of this double-blinded, prospective randomised controlled trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of a bolus of local intra-articular anaesthetic given early on the day after surgery. ⋯ Patients injected with bupivacaine had significantly less (p<0.001) pain than control patients immediately (mean pain score 1.82 v 6.1) and 6 hours (2.5 v 5.7) after injection. Patient satisfaction was also significantly greater (p<0.001) in the local anaesthetic group. We conclude that a bolus dose of intra-articular bupivacaine early on the day after surgery dramatically improves pain control after UKR and improves patient satisfaction.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Does periarticular injection have additional pain relieving effects during contemporary multimodal pain control protocols for TKA?: A randomised, controlled study.
Although the analgesic effects of periarticular multimodal drug injection (PMDI) after TKA have been well documented, there is little information about additional pain relieving effects of PMDI incorporated to contemporary multimodal pain control protocols which have been proved to provide excellent analgesia. We performed a parallel-group, randomised, controlled study to determine whether PMDI provides additional clinical benefits on contemporary multimodal analgesic protocols including preemptive analgesics, continuous femoral nerve block, and IV-PCA. Eighty-seven patients were randomized to a PMDI group (n=45) or to a No-PMDI group (n=42). ⋯ However, the PMDI group had a higher VAS pain score on the 1st postoperative day than during the operation night. No group differences in side-effects and complication incidences, functional recovery, and satisfaction were found. This study demonstrates that PMDI provides additional pain relief and reduces opioid consumption only during the early postoperative period in patients managed by the contemporary pain management protocol following TKA.
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A reduced range of motion post total knee replacement (TKR) is a recognised problem. Manipulation under anaesthesia (MUA) is commonly performed in the stiff post-operative TKR. Long-term results are variable in the literature. ⋯ However, one patient was eventually revised at 2 years secondary to low grade infection. Our findings show that MUA is a safe and effective method at improving the ROM in a stiff post-operative TKR. The improvement is maintained in the long term irrespective of time to MUA and range of motion pre TKR.
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Patellar resurfacing during total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of a mobile-bearing TKA without patellar resurfacing. ⋯ Non-resurfacing of the patella does not adversely affect the outcome of the LCS mobile bearing TKA at minimum 10 years follow-up.
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Neglected rupture of the patellar tendon is rare but becomes more difficult to repair the longer it is left untreated. The most common rupture sites are the inferior pole of the patella and distal insertion. ⋯ Preserved distal insertion provided sufficient blood supply to accelerate healing, while combined fixation with tension-reducing wire, offered the initial stability of the closed-loop sutured tendon. Both patients reacquired near normal strength and stability of the patellar tendon and restoration of function after operation and rehabilitation.