1995 Volume 15 Issue 9 Pages 628-632
We evaluated the analgesic effect of intra-articular injection of morphine (lmg), fentanyl (30μg), and buprenorphine (60μg) in 66 patients (ASA physical status 1∼2, age 15∼67 yrs) after elective arthroscopic knee surgery. The drugs were diluted in 20ml of saline and injected at the end of surgery. Patients were divided into two groups depending on whether synovectomy was performed or not (n=33, each). Patients who underwent surgical proce-dures such as relevant debridement, arthrotomy and postoperative drainage were excluded.
Postoperative pain was assessed using 100mm visual analogue scale at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 24 and48hr after intra-articular injection. Supplemental analgesic requirement were recorded.
Patients who underwent synovectomy tended to show higher visual analogue scale compared with patients who underwent non synovectomy knee surgery, irrespective of intra -articular treatment. No significant differences between the two groups in visual analogue scale were detected. In contrast, morphine lowered visual analogue scale at 24 and 48hrafter surgery in the patients without synovectomy knee surgery. No adverse effects relatedto the analgesics examined were noted.
Intra-articular injection of morphine can provide postoperative pain relief followingarthroscopic knee surgery without synovectomy.
