Visualization in arthroscopic meniscectomy- portal-site injection versus tourniquet inflation: A prospective,
Prateek Kumar Gupta1, Vishesh Khanna2, Ashis Acharya1
1Department of Sports Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Objectives:
Alternatives to tourniquets include portal-site epinephrine injections. This prospective, randomised-controlled, double-blinded study compared intraoperative visibility and safety of portal-site injections with tourniquets in arthroscopic meniscectomies.
Methods:
Sixty eligible adults [16-55ys, excluding vascular/neuromuscular/systemic illnesses] were randomly/equally divided across 3 groups A (controls)-local portal injections; B-local injections with tourniquet; C-local and 1:200,000epinephrine injections. A single surgeon operated blinded to patient group. Intraoperative visibility, surgeon visual analogue score (VAS)and other details were recorded.
Results:
Superior visibility [p = 0.003,p = 0.027] and VAS [p = 0.010,p = 0.042] were reported in groups B, C versus A, Visibility [p = 0.705; p = 0.805] and operating times [p = 0.05] were comparable between B and C.
Conclusions:
Portal-site epinephrine injections emerged as tenable surrogates for tourniquets for clear visualization in arthroscopy.
