Efficacy of celecoxib for acute pain management following total hip arthroplasty in elderly patients: A prospective, randomized, placebo-control trial.

The aim of the present study was to determine whether celecoxib is able to ameliorate pain intensity, provide a narcotic-sparing effect, achieve early ambulation and improve rehabilitation following total hip arthroplasty (THA) in elderly patients. Peri- and post-operative oral celecoxib was administered to verify the efficacy of celecoxib for acute pain management in a multimodal analgesic strategy. All 64 eligible patients were randomly allocated to either the celecoxib group, who took an oral 400 mg capsule of celecoxib peri-operatively and 200 mg per 12 h post-operatively for the first 5 days, or the control group, who were orally treated with a placebo capsule having the same appearance. A multimodal analgesic technique was used in which oral celecoxib or placebo capsule was combined with intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) morphine pump for peri- and post-operative pain management. Pain assessments were recorded at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h, and 7 and 14 days after THA using the visual analog scale (VAS). PCA morphine consumption; 6, 12, 24 and 48-h post-operative Harris hip score (HHS); time interval until initial ambulation; rates of urinary retention and post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) within 72 h; and intra- and post-operative blood loss were also documented. The celecoxib and control groups comprised 34 and 30 patients, respectively. Baseline demographics were comparable between the two groups. The post-operative VAS in the celecoxib group was significantly lower than that in the control group at 12, 24, 48 and 72 h after THA. The post-operative HHS had no significant difference between the two groups, while the time interval until initial ambulation in the celecoxib group (4.5±1.2 days) was significantly less than that in the control group (5.83±2.04 days; P<0.05). Morphine consumption was significantly decreased in the celecoxib group when compared with the control group at 6, 12, 24 and 24 h. Although the 72-h post-operative rates of urinary retention and PONV were lower in the celecoxib group than in the control group, there were no significant differences in these rates between the two groups. The intra- or post-operative blood loss was not significantly different between groups. In conclusion, pre-and post-operative oral celecoxib in a multimodal analgesic strategy can achieve favorable pain relief, reduce opioid consumption, and provide earlier ambulation and improved rehabilitation when compared with PCA morphine alone following THA in elderly patients.