Intraoperative Periarticular Injection in Arthroscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery

Intraoperative Periarticular Injection May Improve Postoperative Pain Scores and Reduce Opioid Consumption in Arthroscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery

In this prospective, assessor-blinded, single-surgeon clinical trial, the goal was to validate the efficacy of PAI in aACLR surgery with a reduced opioid dose, while achieving similar pain relief with few adverse events. 300 patients who had undergone aACLR were randomly allocated to receive either a PAI or nPAI group. The primary outcome parameters were visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and cumulative morphine dose, through time. Secondary outcome parameters included drug-related adverse events.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 1) Patients 18 years or older who had undergone a-ACLR with or without meniscus procedure for anterolateral instability of the knee; 2) agree to participate in this study and to be randomly allocated to either or peri-articular injection protocol and have signed an informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• 1) patients with other concomitant injuries such as other ligamentous injury or fracture; 2) Allergy to any of the medication used in either protocol; 3) patient with history of the chronic pain 4) preoperative chronic opioid-dependent patients (exceeding 50 mg oral morphine equivalence per day at time of recruitment); 5) refuse to participate in this study.