Analgesic effect of intraatricular morphine after arthroscopic knee surgery

Abstract

The effectiveness of pain relief by morphine after arthroscopic surgery was investigated in our study. 45 cases were included in the study. Spinal anesthesia by prilocaine 2% was performed 30-45 min. after the premedication with 10 mg i.m. of morphine and 0.5 mg of atropine. Patients were divided into two groups after the surgery. In group I (n=21) 5 cc saline and group II (n=24) 1 mg morphine in 5 cc saline were injected intraarticularly. Cryo-cuff system was applied in all patients for analgesia and anti-edema. The first time cases needed analgesia in 48 hours postoperatively was recorded. The cases were evaluated postoperatively by means of VAS. The number of cases who required analgesic drugs in the first 24 hours was 11 in group I, while it was 3 in group II (P < 0.05). In the 4th and 6th hours postoperatively, the VAS was significantly higher in group I (P < 0.05). It was concluded that the cryo-cuff application was not enough solely for analgesia in videoarthroscopic knee surgery following spinal anesthesia and intraarticular morphine injection had to be also performed.