Comparison of a Pain Pump versus Injectable Medication for Analgesia in Knee Arthroscopy

As arthroscopic knee procedures have evolved, so has the management of post-operative pain. Traditional pain management included intravenous narcotics, which often resulted in nausea and increased sedation. In an effort to reduce post-operative pain and minimize complications, the concept of multimodal analgesia evolved, including subcutaneous infiltration of local anesthetic, ketorolac and/or narcotic. We studied the effect upon post-operative pain of combining ropivacaine, ketorolac and morphine injected as a one-time dose compared to the same mixture plus an intraarticular pump administering ropivacaine for 24 hours. Our findings showed that a single subcutaneous and intraarticular injection of ketorolac, morphine and ropivacaine was as effective as this solution plus a 24-hour intraarticular ropivacaine pain pump for post-operative pain relief after outpatient arthroscopic knee surgery. No clinical or radiographic signs of chondrolysis were seen in the knee with the use of intraarticular ropivacaine at an average of 18 months post-operatively.