Strategies for the management of postoperative pain in total knee arthroplasty: integrative review

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Total knee arthroplasty is one of the most common surgeries performed on patients with osteoarthritis or rheumatic arthritis of the knee. However, total knee arthroplasty is associated with moderate to severe pain after the operation. In orthopedics, the prevalence of chronic pain after total knee arthroplasty is much higher than after total hip arthroplasty. The aim of this study was to analyze the current knowledge about postoperative pain in knee arthroplasty. CONTENTS: An integrative review of clinical trials published in English and Portuguese was carried out in the Scielo, Pubmed and LILACS databases. The inclusion criteria consisted of articles published in the last five years, available in full, that addressed the proposed theme. Editorials, letters to the editor, dissertations, repeated articles that did not correspond to the theme were excluded. The search and selection process of the studies followed the PRISMA recommendations. Of the 155 articles found, 58 articles were selected for the present study following the above-mentioned recommendations. CONCLUSION: Several classes of local and systemic drugs, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids, and local anesthetics have been used to fight the nociceptive component of postoperative pain. Furthermore, early rehabilitation contributes to better quality of life, self-esteem and reduce the time of hospitalization and hospital expenses.