This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Propofol sedation helps ease the reduction of THA dislocations and speed recovery
Patients sedated with propofol were discharged sooner, although there was no significant difference in sedation quality between groups.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Sedating patients with propofol can allow faster, easier closed reductions of total hip arthroplasty dislocations compared to sedation with morphine and midazolam combined, according to a study by researchers in South Carolina.
David R. Goetz, MD, and colleagues at Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, Greenville, randomly assigned 36 patients requiring reduction of a total hip arthroplasty (THA) dislocation to receive one of the two sedation methods.
Patients averaged 68 years of age. Each group included 17 posterior dislocations and 1 anterior dislocation, according to the study, presented in a poster at the 120th annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Association.
The researchers found that patients who received propofol sedation could be reduced faster and recovered sooner than those who received morphine and midazolam.
Time to reduction averaged 5 minutes for the propofol group and 13 minutes for the morphine-midazolam group (P=.001). Time required for recovery averaged 9 minutes for the propofol group and 73 minutes for the morphine-midazolam group (P=.007), according to the study.
Patients sedated with propofol were discharged after an average of 74 minutes, significantly sooner than the average time-to-discharge of 163 minutes for the morphine-midazolam group (P=.0007).
Investigators found no significant differences in the quality of sedation between the two groups, as measured using the Ramsey Scale. However, physicians subjectively rated the reductions as easier in propofol-sedated patients, with an average score of 8.6 points on a 10-point scale vs. 6.6 points for the morphine-midazolam group (P=.001).
For more information:
- Loging JA, Jeray KJ, Broderick JS, et al. A prospective randomized comparison of morphine and midazolam versus propofol for the reduction of total hip arthroplasty dislocations. Presented at the 120th Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Association. June 15, 2007. Asheville, N.C.