Evaluating the analgesic efficacy of administering celecoxib as a component of multimodal analgesia for outpatient anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.

BACKGROUND Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors may play an important role in multimodal management of pain after orthopedic surgery. We examined the analgesic efficacy of administering celecoxib as a component of a multimodal analgesic regimen for outpatient anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery. METHODS Two-hundred consecutive patients were randomized to receive acetaminophen 1000 mg and either celecoxib 400 mg or placebo 1-2 h before ACL surgery. All patients received intraarticular analgesics (bupivacaine, clonidine, and morphine) and had an external cooling system applied to the operative knee. After discharge, patients were instructed to take acetaminophen 1000 mg every 6 h and either celecoxib 200 mg every 12 h or matching placebo for the first 14 days postoperatively. Oxycodone 5-10 mg was available for rescue analgesia. RESULTS Patients in the celecoxib group were more likely to experience less pain in the recovery room (P < 0.01) and require less opioids (P < 0.001) for postoperative analgesia. These patients reported a lower incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (P < 0.05) and were discharged home earlier (P < 0.05). While at home, patients in the celecoxib group reported lower pain scores both at rest (P < 0.05) and with movement (P < 0.01), and used less oxycodone at all postoperative time intervals. CONCLUSIONS The perioperative administration of celecoxib decreases postoperative pain, opioid use, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and recovery room length of stay. These results support the use of celecoxib as a component of a preventive multimodal analgesic technique for ACL surgery.