title: Postoperative analgesic requirements in patients undergoing arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
abstract: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) procedures are associated with significant postoperative pain and have traditionally been done on a short-stay hospitalization basis because of concerns for adequate postoperative analgesia. A retrospective chart review was performed to determine postoperative intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) morphine requirements for 80 patients who had undergone arthroscopically assisted ACL reconstruction under general anesthesia by means of a patellar tendon autograft by 1 of 2 surgeons. The mean +/- SD PCA morphine used after surgery was 20.4+/-20.0 mg. There was a wide interpatient difference in postoperative opioid consumption: the amount of PCA morphine used ranged from 0 mg to 124 mg. A comparison between the surgeons revealed that 1 surgeon had significantly longer intraoperative surgical, tourniquet, and anesthesia times; however, there was no difference in the length of recovery room stay, amount of postoperative PCA morphine used, or time to hospital discharge. Predicting which patients may benefit from short-stay hospitalization after arthroscopic ACL reconstruction may be difficult because of considerable interpatient differences in postoperative analgesic requirements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Bronstein
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Rouse
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000601:surgery*; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D001182:Arthroscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D009020:Morphine