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Patients have more pain in second knee after staged bilateral TKA
For patients who undergo a primary staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty, pain levels and the amount of pain medication administered are higher following the second procedure, according to a recently published data.
Mi-Hyun Kim, MD and colleagues studied 30 patients who underwent staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) at a 1-week interval. They measured postoperative pain on the VAS at rest and at maximum knee flexion and compared the amount of patient-controlled intravenous fentanyl and ketoprofen were administered during the 48 hours after the each TKA.
They found VAS scores at rest and at maximum knee flexion were greater on the second operated knee. The cumulative amounts of patient-controlled analgesic and rescue analgesic were similarly greater after the second TKA.
“This suggests extension of hyperalgesia beyond the initially injured site to remote regions after surgical injury in which central sensitization may be involved,” Kim and colleagues wrote.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
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