Efficacy of intra-articular dexmedetomidine for postoperative analgesia in arthroscopic knee surgery.

INTRODUCTION

Various drugs are administered intraarticularly to provide postoperative analgesia after arthroscopic knee surgery, of which opioids and alpha2 agonists could be of particular interest.

METHODS

Sixty patients undergoing elective knee arthroscopy were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 30). Group R received 19 ml of 0.25% ropivacaine and 1 ml of isotonic saline (total volume 20 ml) intraarticularly. Group RD received 100 microg (1 ml) of dexmedetomidine added to 19 ml of 0.25% ropivacaine intra-articularly (total volume 20 ml). Analgesic effect was evaluated by measuring pain intensity (VAS score) and duration of analgesia.

RESULTS

A longer delay was observed between intraarticular injection of study medication and first requirement of supplementary analgesic in group RD (10.84 +/- 2.6 hours) compared to group R (5.38 +/- 1.4 hours). Total consumption of fentanyl citrate in postoperative period was significantly less in group RD. No significant side effects were noted.

CONCLUSION

Dexmedetomidine, added as adjunct to ropivacaine in patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, improve the quality and duration of postoperative analgesia.