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Review
. 2019 Oct;11(5):755-761.
doi: 10.1111/os.12535.

Postoperative Pain Management in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Jing-Wen Li  1   2 , Ye-Shuo Ma  3 , Liang-Kun Xiao  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Postoperative Pain Management in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Jing-Wen Li et al. Orthop Surg. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most common surgeries performed to relieve joint pain in patients with end-stage osteoarthritis or rheumatic arthritis of the knee. However, TKA is followed by moderate to severe postoperative pain that affects postoperative rehabilitation, patient satisfaction, and overall outcomes. Historically, opioids have been widely used for perioperative pain management of TKA. However, opioids are associated with undesirable adverse effects, such as nausea, respiratory depression, and retention of urine, which limit their application in daily clinical practice. The aim of this review was to discuss the current postoperative pain management regimens for TKA. Our review of the literature demonstrated that multimodal analgesia is considered the optimal regimen for perioperative pain management of TKA and improves clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction, through a combination of several types of medications and delivery routes, including preemptive analgesia, neuraxial anesthesia, peripheral nerve blockade, patient-controlled analgesia and local infiltration analgesia, and oral opioid/nonopioid medications. Multimodal analgesia provides superior pain relief, promotes recovery of the knee, and reduces opioid consumption and related adverse effects in patients undergoing TKA.

Keywords: Knee joint pain; Multimodal analgesia; Postoperative pain; Total knee arthroplasty.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Commonly used postoperative pain management regimes for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). COX‐2, cyclooxygenase‐2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flow chart of the search for published reports showing the process of inclusion and exclusion. TKA, total knee arthroplasty.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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