Results
In all, 63 patients who met the inclusion criteria were recruited. However, ten declined the invitation to join the study, while another three were not enrolled because of the unavailability of the researcher (Figure 1 CONSORT 2010 flow diagram).
Figure 1.
CONSORT 2010 flow diagram
The 50 enrolled patients were divided into an intervention group and a control group (25 patients each). No significant differences were found in the age and sex distributions, body mass indexes, estimated glomerular filtration rates, underlying diseases, preoperative pain scores, and surgical and tourniquet times of the 2 groups (Table 1).
As to the postoperative pain scores of the groups (Table 2), there were significant differences in their pain scores at rest, pain scores on movement, and anterior-knee pain scores during the first 18 h after the surgery. The median (IQR) pain scores at rest at the 6-, 12-, and 18-h timepoints were 1 (0–4.5), 3 (0–5), and 3 (2–5) for the control group; and 0 (0–0), 0 (0–3), and 1 (0–3) for the intervention group, respectively (p-values = 0.012, 0.021, and 0.010). The median (IQR) pain scores on movement at 6, 12, and 18 h were 3 (0–5.5), 5 (2.5–6.5), and 7 (4–9) for the control group, and 0 (0–1.5), 2 (0–4) and 3 (2–5) for the intervention group (p-values = 0.019, 0.005, and 0.001). The median (IQR) anterior-knee pain scores at 6, 12, and 18 h were 2 (0–4.5), 2 (0–4), and 3 (0.5–5) for the control group, and 0 (0–0), 0 (0–3), and 1 (0–3) for the intervention group (p-values = 0.002, 0.032, and 0.015).
In contrast, a significant difference in the posterior pain scores was found only at the 12-h timepoint: the median (IQR) were 0 (0–2.5) and 0 (0–0) for the control and intervention groups, respectively (p-value = 0.038). There were also no significant differences in the motor function of the tibialis anterior muscle, the pain scores recorded during physiotherapy within 24 h and 48 h, nor the levels of patient satisfaction of the 2 groups.
The total morphine consumption of the 2 groups differed significantly during the first 24 h after the TKAs (Table 2). The median (IQR) total morphine consumptions of the control and intervention groups were 4 (2–8) mg and 2 (0–2.5) mg (p-value = 0.005). Nevertheless, there was no statistical difference in their hospital lengths of stay, with mean ± SD values of 132 ± 25 h and 128 ± 25 h for the control and intervention groups, respectively (p-value = 0.591).
BMC Anesthesiol. 2021;21(282) © 2021 BioMed Central, Ltd.
