Controle da dor pós-operatória em pacientes submetidos à reconstrução do ligamento cruzado anterior do joelho: comparação de soluções analgésicas intra-articulares

Abstract

JUSTIFICATION: Knee Surgery cause postoperative functional disability due to pain. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury can lead to a catastrophic future effect in the knees, because this ligament is essential for proper joint function. The treatment of choice for active patients with gross instability is arthroscopic ACL reconstruction (ACLR). The ACLR aims to stabilize the knee through reproduction of ligament anatomy, thus reducing the potential adverse effects of intra-articular late sequels. The appropriate management of postoperative pain in the early days after surgery should be a common concern of the orthopedic surgeon, anesthesiologist, patient and physiotherapist. The intraarticular injection of analgesics (IA) is one of techniques employed to control postoperative pain in patients undergoing knee arthroscopy. Bupivacaine is a local anesthetic administered IA by some orthopedic surgeons to avoid acute pain, in this type of surgery. Techniques to control the surgery postoperative pain present the potential to reduce the time of hospitalar stay, confer lower cost to the treatment and abbreviate the patient return to activities and the complete joint functional recovery. OBJECTIVES: This research aimed to evaluate postoperative pain in patients undergoing ACL reconstruction using the analogic visual scale (AVS) who received analgesic IA solutions and specific objectives to assess what analgesic solution is more effective to control postoperative pain and evaluate in which periods there is a better pain control, the solutions side effects and the analgesic consumption. METHODS: A triple blinded randomized clinical trial, was performed at the Serviço de Cirurgia do Joelho da Fundação Hospital Adriano Jorge, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, with forty-eight patients who underwent ACL reconstruction randomized into 4 groups: Group I (n = 12) 20 ml of normal saline (control); Group II (n = 12) 20 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine; Group III (n = 12) 20 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine + 0.1 mg of epinephrine; Group IV (n = 12) 20 ml of normal saline + 0.1 mg of epinephrine injected into the knee at the end of the operation before the tourniquet deflation. Pain was assessed by visual analogue scale immediately after, six, 12, 24 and 48 hours after surgery, as well the other variables seen in the objectives. RESULTS: The great variability of the AVS results was observed among the patients evaluated in each group. It was found by Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA, considering a 5% level of significance, the analgesic IA solutions of each group influence the assessment of patients pain (p = 0.003), and the Group 3 had patients with lower postoperative pain. It did not revealed a greater or lesser consumption of supplementary analgesic drugs. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that the combination of bupivacaine and epinephrine solution is the most effective clinically in pain control in patients undergoing ACL reconstruction, but has no statistical difference with the Group III (p = 0,547), and was not observed in this study decrease or increase in consumption of additional analgesics as well as their adverse effects (p > 0,05).