title: Analgesic effects of intraarticular sufentanil and sufentanil plus methylprednisolone after arthroscopic knee surgery.
abstract: We studied the effect of intraarticular saline, sufentanil, or sufentanil plus methylprednisolone after knee arthroscopic meniscectomy. In a double-blind randomized study, 60 patients undergoing knee arthroscopic meniscectomy were allocated to groups receiving intraarticular saline, intraarticular sufentanil 10 microg, or sufentanil 10 microg plus methylprednisolone 40 mg at the end of arthroscopy during general anesthesia. Postoperatively, pain levels at rest and during movement (i.e., active flexion of the knee) were measured by a visual analog scale and were significantly decreased in the sufentanil and sufentanil plus methylprednisolone groups compared with the control group. Moreover, we found that there was a significant reduction in intraarticular sufentanil and sufentanil plus methylprednisolone in the postoperative consumption of analgesics. We also found that the use of intraarticular sufentanil or sufentanil plus methylprednisolone after knee arthroscopic meniscectomy decreases the amount of supplementary analgesic needed for pain relief during the early postoperative period. In addition, we detected that sufentanil provided prolonged pain relief up to 24 h when compared with control, whereas when we combined sufentanil plus methylprednisolone, we found that it further reduced pain and use of analgesics when compared with sufentanil.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combined use of intraarticular sufentanil (10 microg) and methylprednisolone (40 mg) in arthroscopic meniscectomy surgery reduced both postoperative pain scores and the use of additional analgesics.
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Anesthesiology and Reanimation and †Orthopaedic Surgery, The School of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kizilkaya
authors.forename: Omer Selim
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Yildirim
authors.forename: Nazim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.forename: Husnu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kursad
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okur
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001182:Arthroscopy; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007270:Injections, Intra-Articular; D007717:Knee / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017409:Sufentanil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014111:Tourniquets
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D017409:Sufentanil; D008775:Methylprednisolone