• Ran Schwarzkopf, Michael Drexler, Michael W Ma, Vanessa M Schultz, and Khanhvan T Le.
• Division of Adult Reconstruction, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NYU Langone Medical Center Hospital For Joint Diseases, New York, New York.
• J Arthroplasty. 2016 Aug 1; 31 (8): 1702-5.

BackgroundPostoperative pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) poses a major challenge. It delays mobilization, increases opioid consumption and side effects, and lengthens hospitalization. This challenge multiplies when treating an opioid-dependent population. We examined whether a novel suspended release local anesthetic, liposomal bupivacaine (LB) would improve pain control and decrease opioid consumption after TKA compared to a standard periarticular injection in opioid-dependent patients.MethodsThirty-eight patients undergoing TKA were randomly assigned to receive either a periarticular injection (PAI) with LB (n = 20) or with a standard PAI (including a combination of ropivacaine, clonidine, Toradol, Epinepherine, and saline; n = 18) as part of a multimodal pain management approach. All periarticular injections were done by a single surgeon. Perioperative treatment was similar between groups. Postoperative information regarding pain level was evaluated by a pain visual analog scale score. Postoperative opioid consumption was recorded.ResultsAfter controlling baseline narcotic usage before surgery, no differences were found between groups in daily postoperative narcotic usage (P = .113), average daily pain score (P = .332), or maximum daily pain score (P = .881). However, when examining pain levels separately for each day, pain visual analog scale scores were reported higher in post operative day 1 in the LB group (P = .033).ConclusionsLB was not found to be superior to standard PAI in opioid-dependent patients undergoing TKA. This patient population continues to present a challenge even with modern multimodal pain protocols.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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