The Efficacy of Local Infiltration Analgesia in the Control of Post-Operative Pain after Total Joint Replacement...

Total joint replacement surgeries can produce severe pain in the post-operative period that can prolong the duration of hospital stay. The aim of the study, was to determine the efficacy of Local Infiltration Analgesia in the management of post-operative pain after total joint replacement.

This was a prospective study with patients recruited for the study divided into group A and B. Group A received intra-operative analgesic cocktail while those in group B (control group) received an equal volume of normal saline. Both groups received the same post-operative pain management protocol. Pain assessment in the post-operative period was done using the visual analogue scale, at 4 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours post surgery. Time to achieving assisted ambulation, occurrence of adverse events, and the number of times analgesic was administered for breakthrough pain were assessed.

A total number of 50 patients who had either total joint arthroplasty (25 in each group) were recruited for the study. The Normal saline group had significantly higher VAS scores in the first 8 hours after surgery (p values 0.016 at 4 hours and 0.037 at 8 hours post-operation) while both groups had similar pain scores thereafter. Mobilization times were not significantly different between both groups and adverse events occurred with almost equal frequency in both groups.

Periarticular local infiltration analgesia as part of multimodal pain control protocol is effective in the control of early post-operative pain after total joint replacement.