Editorial Commentary: New Perspectives on the Intra-articular Use of Local Anesthetics: Five Weekly Injections of 0.5% Bupivacaine Does Not Alter Articular Cartilage.

Intra-articular injection of 0.5% bupivacaine repeated once a week for 5 consecutive weeks might not have deleterious effects on either normal or osteoarthritic knee joints. The chondrotoxic effect of local anesthetics previously reported on in vitro studies was not confirmed by in vivo observations on an animal model.