The functional outcome of local infiltration of a periarticular cocktail of analgesics on post-operative pain in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty

Abstract

Total knee arthroplasty is becoming a more frequently performed orthopedics surgery these days aimed mainly to improve the functional outcome and correct deformity in patients suffering from arthritis of the knee joint. To evaluate the results, we conducted a prospective study from March 2017 to December 2019. The pain was evaluated every 4th hourly during the first 24 hours and thereon every 6th hourly till 5th POD. The 2MWT was administered during the 2nd POD and 6MWT was administered during the 6 weeks follow up to check for the muscle endurance when walking. In our study, we had 22 patients who were between 55-60 years, 21 patients between 61-70 years and 17 patients between 71-80 years. Based on analysis of our results, the mean VAS pain score was 4 on POD 0 and VAS pain score was 3 on Post-operative day 1 and 2. The 2 MWT administered on the 2nd POD showed that 35 patients (58.3%) were able to walk 30 meters. The rest of the 25 patients (42%) were not able to do the 2MWT due to various reasons like pain (15) and dizziness (10). The 6MWT administered at 6 weeks showed that all the patients were able to walk an average of 480 meters. Periarticular cocktail of analgesics used in Total knee arthroplasty was associated with a favorable improvement in walking capacity, pain management in the immediate post-operative period and improved knee function. Periarticular administration of a cocktail of analgesics helped to improve the patient s ambulatory status.