Comparison of analgesic activity of intraarticular lornoxicam, bupivacaine and saline after knee arthroscopy

Abstract

Postoperative pain is an important parameter in discharge and rehabilitation in daycase arthroscopic knee surgery. This study compared the efficacy of intraarticular application of lornoxicam, bupivacaine and placebo on postoperative pain after arthroscopic knee surgery. With the approval of the local ethics committee and informed consent of the patients, 90 patients (ASA score I-II), aged between 18-65 years undergoing arthroscopic meniscectomy were included in this randomized, blinded, prospective study and were divided into three groups (30 patients each): 8 mg lornoxicam was applied to Group L (GL), 50 mg bupivacaine to Group B (GB) and normal saline to Group S (GS) in 20 mL volume intraarticularly. Postoperative analgesia was maintained by intravenous tramadol-HCl 50 mg/h at the first 4 h and then paracetamol 500 mg plus codeine 7.5 mg preparation as needed. The numeric rating scale (NRS) values were evaluated at rest and at active-passive motion at 4, 12, 24 and 48 h, total analgesic consumption were recorded. There were statistically significant differences between GS and GL and GS and GB in term of tramadol consumption (p<0.05 and p<0.05). The analgesiconsumption of GL patients at the end of 48 h were lower than GB and GS (p<0.001 and p<0.05). The NRS values of GL were always lower than the other groups with statistical significance at certain times. We concluded that intraarticular lornoxicam provided better pain control than bupivacaine and saline in arthroscopic knee surgery.