Intra-articular Morphine and Ropivacaine Injection Provides Efficacious Analgesia As Compared With Femoral Nerve Block in the First 24 Hours After ACL Reconstruction: Results From a Bone–Patellar Tendon–Bone Graft in an Adolescent Population

Abstract

Background: Opioid consumption and patient satisfaction are influenced by a surgeon’s pain-management protocol as well as the use of adjunctive pain mediators. Two commonly utilized adjunctive pain modifiers for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction are femoral nerve blockade and intra-articular injection; however, debate remains regarding the more efficacious methodology. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that intra-articular injection with ropivacaine and morphine would be found to be as efficacious as a femoral nerve block for postoperative pain management in the first 24 hours after bone–patellar tendon–bone (BTB) ACL reconstruction. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Charts were retrospectively reviewed for BTB ACL reconstructions performed by a single pediatric orthopaedic surgeon from 2013 to 2019. Overall, 116 patients were identified: 58 received intra-articular injection, and 58 received single-shot femoral nerve block. All patients were admitted for 24 hours. Pain scores were assessed every 4 hours. Morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) consumed were tabulated for each patient. Results: Opioid use was 24.3 MMEs in patients treated with intra-articular injection versus 28.5 MMEs in those with peripheral block ( P = .108). Consumption of MMEs was greater in the intra-articular group in the 0- to 4-hour period (7.1 vs 4.6 MMEs; P = .008). There was significantly less MME consumption in patients receiving intra-articular injection versus peripheral block at 16 to 20 hours (3.2 vs 5.6 MMEs; P = .01) and 20 to 24 hours (3.8 vs 6.5 MMEs; P < .001). Mean pain scores were not significantly different over the 24-hour period (peripheral block, 2.7; intra-articular injection, 3.0; P = .19). Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, we could identify no significant difference in MME consumption between the single-shot femoral nerve block group and intra-articular injection group in the first 24 hours postoperatively. While peripheral block is associated with lower opioid consumption in the first 4 hours after surgery, patients receiving intra-articular block require fewer opioids 16 to 24 hours postoperatively. Given these findings, we propose that intra-articular injection is a viable alternative for analgesia in adolescent patients undergoing BTB ACL reconstruction.

Effects of General Anesthesia Plus Multimodal Analgesia on Immediate Perioperative Outcomes of Hamstring Tendon Autograft ACL Reconstruction

“…While regional blockade and local anesthetic injection into the knee joint have been utilized to control postoperative pain after ACLR using patellar tendon autograft 10 , studies have demonstrated that they are not particularly effective for managing the pain associated with hamstring tendon autograft ACLR (H-ACLR) 4 , 5 , 11 . One study found that local infiltration analgesia is comparable with femoral nerve block (FNB) after H-ACLR and concluded that further randomized clinical trials evaluating FNB combined with local infiltration at the donor site are needed 6 .…”