title: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for postoperative pain relief after total knee arthroplasty.
abstract: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been used to treat chronic pain syndromes and has been reported to be of some utility in the treatment of postsurgical pain. A randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial was designed to evaluate the utility of TENS after total knee arthroplasty. Patients were randomly enrolled into patient-controlled anesthesia (PCA) alone, PCA plus TENS, or PCA plus sham TENS. The cumulative dose of morphine by PCA for each group was used as the end-point of the study. There was no significant reduction in the requirement for patient-controlled analgesia with or without TENS. We conclude that there is no utility for TENS in the postoperative management of pain after knee arthroplasty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Concord Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Breit
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Van der Wall
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D009020:Morphine