Abstract
BackgroundMultimodal analgesia following total hip arthroplasty has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, participation with physical therapy, and allow early return to self care. Liposomal bupivacaine is a formulation of local anesthetic which has the potential to provide anesthesia for up to 72 hours following administration. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of liposomal bupivacaine with bupivacaine following total hip arthroplasty.MethodsA retrospective chart review was performed on 28 patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty or hip resurfacing who received intraoperative administration of liposomal bupivacaine. A control group of 30 patients who had previously undergone total hip arthroplasty or hip resurfacing and had received intraoperative administration of bupivacaine also underwent a chart review. Length of stay, post-operative opioid use, and pain scores were compared for both groups.ResultsThe average length of stay in the study group was 1.93 days and the control group length of stay was 2.47 days (p ≤ 0.05). Morphine equivalent use was less in the study group during the first 24 hours compared to the control group (p ≤0.05). During the second and third 24 hours the morphine equivalent use difference was not statistically significant. Visual analogue scores were not significantly different between groups at any time point.ConclusionLiposomal bupivacaine administration during total hip arthroplasty appears to decrease the need for opioid use post operatively and decrease length of stay. The results of this study justify the need for a well-designed randomized controlled trial utilizing liposomal bupivacaine as part of multimodal analgesia during THA.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-310) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Multimodal analgesia following total hip arthroplasty has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, participation with physical therapy, and allow early return to self care
Study design A retrospective chart review was performed on 28 patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty or hip resurfacing who received intraoperative administration of liposomal bupivacaine
Morphine equivalent use was less in the study group during the first 24 hours compared to the control group (p ≤ 0.05) (Figure 1)
Summary
Multimodal analgesia following total hip arthroplasty has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, participation with physical therapy, and allow early return to self care. Multimodal analgesia following total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, participation with physical therapy, and allow early return to self care [1]. Opioid related side effects are dose dependent, and efforts to minimize opioid consumption through peripheral nerve blockade, epidural anesthesia, local anesthetics, and non-opioid medications have been effective [2,3,4,5]. Epidural and peripheral nerve blockade have been used as methods to decrease post operative opiate consumption following THA [2,7]. Continuous lumbar plexus blocks have been shown to be effective in reducing pain scores, opioid consumption, and side effects [2]. The use of a catheter and potential need for monitoring are barriers to outpatient THA
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