2016 AAOS Annual Meeting: Liposomal Bupivacaine Versus Femoral Nerve Block in Managing Pain After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

100 patients who underwent arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) were randomized to either intraoperative local infiltration of liposomal bupivacaine (LB) or femoral nerve block (FNB) for the management of postoperative pain. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the two treatments in postoperative pain management, opioid consumption, sleep disturbance, and patient satisfaction after 4 days. The findings indicated that postoperative pain was significantly increased within the first 8 hours in the LB group compared to the FNB group, but average daily pain was comparable between groups on all postoperative days. Opioid consumption and patient satisfaction were also similar between groups. The LB group was found to be associated with fewer sleep disturbances compared to the FNB group and patients in the LB group were significantly less likely to contact their physicians about pain on the next day.