Multimodal Analgesia in Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Trial on Additional Efficacy of Periarticular Anesthesia

64 patients with knee osteoarthritis undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were randomized to receive periarticular ropivacaine injection analgesia in addition to multi-modal oral and intravenous (i.v.) analgesia or multi-modal analgesia alone for the management of post-operative pain. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the addition of periarticular analgesia provides additive benefits in terms of pain reduction and functional outcome compared to the use of only multi-modal analgesia alone. The addition of periarticular ropivacaine was found to provide no additional benefits when compared to he use of multi-modal analgesia alone, as no significant differences in terms of pain, function, need for rescue medication or edema were found between groups throughout the 21 day follow up period.