Postoperative analgesia in total hip arthroplasty: A randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled study on peroperative and postoperative ropivacaine, ketorolac, and adrenaline wound infiltration

Figures & data

Table 1.  Patient characteristics for the treatment and control groups

	Group
	Treatment (n = 19)	Control (n = 18)
Age (years) ^a	62	64
Male/Female	16/3	10/8
Working	12	8
Living with partner	17	17
Preoperative Hb ^b (mmol/L) ^a	9.7	8.9
(range)	(8.1–10.6)	(7.4–10)
Intraoperative bleeding (mL) ^a	425	400
(range)	(200–1300)	(200–1500)
Preoperative pain level
WOMAC, pain ^a	39 (5–75)	39 (13–66)
WOMAC, stiffness ^a	49 (4–96)	53 (4–80)
WOMAC, function ^a	44 (19–91)	48 (13–78)

^a Median.^b Hb: hemoglobin.

Table 2.  Results concerning pain and stay in hospital

	Group
	Treatment	Control	n (T/C) ^a	P-value
VAS 4 h, rest ^b	0 (0–55)	11 (0–100)	19/18	0.04
VAS 8 h, rest ^b	7 (0–57)	34 (0–91)	19/18	0.02
VAS 8 h, leg raise ^b	22 (0–70)	60 (30–90)	8/11	0.002
WOMAC, pain on day 1	20 (1–39)	49 (4–86)	19/18	< 0.001
Day 2	6 (1–26)	25 (6–65)	19/18	< 0.001
Day 3	5 (1–15)	16 (5–64)	14/16	0.002
Day 4	5 (0–16)	13 (5–69)	9/14	0.003
WOMAC, pain 1 week postop.	11 (0–30)	18 (10–50)	19/18	0.001
2 weeks postop.	5 (2–66)	13 (2–44)	19/17	0.01
4 weeks postop.	4 (0–51)	8 (0–30)	19/17	0.1
6 weeks postop.	2 (0–50)	7 (0–13)	19/17	0.07
WOMAC, stiffness 1 week postop.	24 (4–67)	35 (13–67)	19/17	0.04
2 weeks postop.	11 (0–47)	15 (8–53)	19/17	0.06
4 weeks postop.	10 (0–35)	12 (2–58)	19/17	0.3
6 weeks postop.	7 (1–46)	10 (3–35)	19/17	0.2
WOMAC function 1 week postop.	26 (9–51)	39 (14–71)	19/17	0.02
2 weeks postop.	16 (3–46)	24 (5–39)	19/17	0.2
4 weeks postop.	13 (2–42)	14 (1–38)	19/17	0.3
6 weeks postop.	6 (0–40)	10 (1–21)	19/17	0.3
Oxycodon consumption (mg)
Day 1	20 (0–60)	53 (5–135)	19/18	< 0.001
Day 2	15 (0–75)	28 (5–100)	19/18	0.01
Day 3	10 (0–70)	20 (0–105)	15/16	0.02
Day 4	10 (0–30)	20 (0–120)	9/15	0.01
Discharged per day, n
at day 1	1	0	1/0	c
at day 2	11	7	12/7	c
at day 3	4	6	16/13	c
at day 4	1	5	17/18	c
at day 5	1	0	18/18	c
at day 6	1	0	19/18	c

^an: numbers of registrations in the two groups.

^bPostoperative VAS pain score.

VAS, WOMAC and Oxycodon consumption: Values are median (range).

^c p < 0.05, when analyzing distribution of patients fulfilling the criteria of discharge from days 1 to 6.

Table 3.  Patient satisfaction at 8 hours, at day 1 and 2, and 6 weeks postoperatively

	8 h postop.		Day 1		Day 2		at 6 weeks
	Treat.	Control	Treat.	Control	Treat.	Control	Treat.	Control
Very satisfied	16	8	15	6	15	7	13	6
Satisfied	1	5	4	8	4	9	4	10
Not completely
satisfied	2	3	0	3	0	2	2	1
Dissatisfied	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0
Total	19	18	19	18	19	18	19	17
P-value^a	< 0.05		< 0.05		< 0.1		< 0.1

^aChi-squared test

Lowest achieved WOMAC pain level from day 1 to day 4, for each patient.