Single-dose interscalene block and general anesthesia relieved pain after rotator cuff repair

Use of a single-dose interscalene block and general anesthesia during arthroscopic rotator cuff repair effectively relieved pain without any complications, according to results of this study.

Researchers randomly assigned 62 patients with rotator cuff tears to be treated with either a single-dose interscalene block and general anesthesia or general anesthesia alone. Researchers measured preoperative pain scores on the day of surgery, at 1 hour and 6 hours postoperatively and then every 6 hours until 3 days postoperatively. Researchers also evaluated the stress biomarkers insulin, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and fibrinogen preoperatively on the day of surgery and postoperatively at 18 hours, 42 hours and 66 hours through blood sampling.

On the day of surgery, results showed patients who received single-dose interscalene block and general anesthesia had a significant decrease in postoperative VAS pain scores compared with the general anesthesia-only group. Researchers noted significantly lower VAS scores at 6 hours postoperatively and at every time point evaluated in the 12 hours postoperatively, as well as significantly decreased insulin levels at 42 hours postoperatively among patients who received a single-dose interscalene block and general anesthesia.

Patients in the single-dose interscalene block and general anesthesia group required a lower amount of additional rescue tramadol during the first 12 hours postoperatively vs. the general anesthesia-only group. During the study period of 3 days, the groups had no significant differences in correlation values between VAS scores and all biomarkers, including insulin, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and fibrinogen, researchers found. – by Casey Tingle

Disclosure: Research funding was provided by Hallym University Research Fund 2012(01-2012-16).

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Source:

Liu XN, et al. Arthroscopy. 2017;doi:10.1016/j.arthro.2016.09.018.