Perioperative Duloxetine in Total Joint Arthroplasty: An Umbrella Review

Duloxetine, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor primarily used for chronic neuropathic pain, has been debated for its efficacy in total joint arthroplasty contexts.

Umbrella review.

A comprehensive search spanning PubMed, CINAHL, OVID, Embase, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Google Scholar, and Cochrane, with no language restrictions up to January 2024, was conducted. Two independent reviewers performed data extraction and quality assessment. Primary outcomes focused on pain scores, with secondary outcomes including morphine consumption.

This review encompasses 8 randomized controlled trials involving 740 patients and 6 meta-analyses. Moderate-certainty evidence from both individual studies and meta-analyses suggests that duloxetine administration correlates with reduced ambulation (-0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.95 to -0.51 for central sensitization; -0.36, 95% CI -0.47 to -0.25 for noncentral sensitization) and decreased rest pain scores (-0.81, 95% CI -1.07 to -0.55 for central sensitization; -0.22, 95% CI -0.36 to -0.09 for noncentral sensitization), along with lower morphine consumption (-0.52, 95% CI -0.65 to -0.38). Systematic reviews indicate a consistent trend of duloxetine reducing ambulatory (ranging from -1.45 to 0.13) and resting (ranging from -13.46 to 0.16) pain scores, as well as opioid consumption (ranging from -12.72 to -0.71).

Despite controversies surrounding its efficacy in total joint arthroplasty, duloxetine demonstrates potential in reducing perioperative pain scores and opioid consumption, even in cases of central sensitization. Further trials with larger cohorts are necessary to strengthen the validity of these findings.