Intra-articular dexmedetomidine improves outcomes of postoperative analgesia after arthroscopic meniscus surgery

Abstract

Objectives: The evaluation of the outcomes of patients undergoing arthroscopic unilateral meniscus repair on receiving intra-articular injection (IAI) of dexmedetomidine (DXM) alone in dose of 2 µg/kg or in dose of 1 µg/kg with other analgesics. Patients & Methods: 150 patients were randomly distributed between 5-groups: C-Group received saline, Study Group I (SI-Group) received DXM 2 µg/kg, SII, SIII and SIV groups received DXM 1 µg/kg with ketamine 0.5 mg/kg, dexamethasone (DXA) 8-mg or ketorolac 30-mg, respectively, with bupivacaine. Bupivacaine spinal anesthesia was provided, and IAI was injected through an arthroscopic port as a single shot. The study outcome is the efficacy of IAI of DXM as judged by pain scores, duration till requesting morphine, times of requesting, and total dose of morphine used during 12-h after IAI. Results: Pain scores and the cumulative scores were significantly lower in the study groups with lower frequency of requests and the total dose of morphine compared to the C-Group with insignificant difference between study groups. The incidence of adverse events was significantly lower in SIII-Group than in other groups. Patients’ and surgeons’ satisfaction was higher in the study groups than C-Group. Conclusion: The IAI of DXM alone or in combination with any other analgesic is an effective and safe analgesic modality for post-arthroscopic surgeries. All additives were effective in terms of reduction of pain score and opioid consumption, but the side effects of ketamine and duration of analgesia of ketorolac are questionable. However, DXA is an efficient analgesic with minimal side effects.