[Comparing the effects of analgesia techniques with controlled intravenous and epidural on postoperative pain and knee rehabilitation after total knee arthroplasty].
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to compare the effects of controlled intravenous (iv.) and epidural analgesia techniques on postoperative analgesia and knee rehabilitation after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).


METHODS
After the approval of the ethical committee, both i.v. (group I.V; n=20) and epidural (group E; n=22) postoperative analgesia (PCA) were applied in 42 patients (range 18 to 75 years) undergoing TKA. Because of dislocation of epidural catheters in the postoperative period, two cases were excluded from the study and 20 patients in each group were evaluated. Postoperative pain was assessed with the visual analog scale (VAS) and it was recorded in the recovery unite and then at the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 24th, 48th and 72nd hours. The knee flexion angles of patients were daily measured with a goniometer. The data were analyzed using Mann Whitney U-test, two-samples independent t-test, Fisher exact-chi squared and Pierson chi squared tests.


RESULTS
Demographic variables were similar in two groups. In group E, VAS scores at rest and motion were found to be significantly lower and knee flexion angles were significantly higher than that of the group I.V.


CONCLUSIONS
We determined that epidural PCA provided better pain relief and rehabilitation than iv. PCA in postoperative period after TKA.
Bozkurt
Merlin
M
Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Medicine Faculty of Uludağ University, Bursa, Turkey.
Yilmazlar
Aysun
A
Bilgen
Omer Faruk
OF
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural / Q000379:methods*; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled / Q000379:methods*; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018579:Patient Selection