Although periarticular injection plays an important role in multimodal pain management following total hip arthroplasty (THA), there is no consensus on the optimal composition of the injection. In particular, it is not clear whether the addition of a corticosteroid improves the pain relief achieved nor whether it is associated with more complications than are observed without corticosteroid. The aim of this study was to quantify the safety and effectiveness of cortocosteroid use in periarticular injection during THA. We conducted a prospective, two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial involving patients scheduled for unilateral THA. A total of 187 patients were randomly assigned to receive periarticular injection containing either a corticosteroid (CS group) or without corticosteroid (no-CS group). Other perioperative interventions were identical for all patients. The primary outcome was postoperative pain at rest during the initial 24 hours after surgery. Pain score was recorded every three hours until 24 hours using a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS). The primary outcome was assessed based on the area under the curve (AUC).Aims
Methods
There is conflicting evidence about the benefit
of using corticosteroid in periarticular injections for pain relief
after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We carried out a double-blinded,
randomised controlled trial to assess the efficacy of using corticosteroid
in a periarticular injection to control pain after TKA. A total of 77 patients, 67 women and ten men, with a mean age
of 74 years (47 to 88) who were about to undergo unilateral TKA
were randomly assigned to have a periarticular injection with or
without corticosteroid. The primary outcome was post-operative pain
at rest during the first 24 hours after surgery, measured every
two hours using a visual analogue pain scale score. The cumulative
pain score was quantified using the area under the curve. The corticosteroid group had a significantly lower cumulative
pain score than the no-corticosteroid group during the first 24
hours after surgery (mean area under the curve 139, 0 to 560, and
264, 0 to 1460; p = 0.024). The rate of complications, including
surgical site infection, was not significantly different between
the two groups up to one year post-operatively. The addition of corticosteroid to the periarticular injection
significantly decreased early post-operative pain. Further studies
are needed to confirm the safety of corticosteroid in periarticular
injection.
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