The study was designed to gauge adequacy of pain relief in the first 5 days following TKA, in particular comparing the Painbuster device (B Braun, Sheffield, UK) with more routine modalities. In a prospective, multi-disciplinary audit, all post-operative in-patients completed a pain diary. Pain was recorded as none (0), mild (1), moderate (2) or severe (3), three times a day. This information was collated, along with the pre-operative Oxford knee score, type of anaesthetic, and use of post-operative analgesia. This included oral and intravenous medication, local anaesthetic infiltration and the Painbuster, a continuous infusion device which delivers bupivacaine into the knee for 48 hours.Aims
Methods