Dexamethasone in Pain Control After Total Knee Replacement

Summary

The primary aims of total knee replacement are improvement in functional activities and reduce pain due to degenerated knee joints. However, there are around 20-30% of patients would develop significant pain problem despite uncomplicated total knee replacement. It accounts for major post-operative problems and burdens. Dexamethasone is glucocorticoid which is associated with anti-inflammatory response. It is well known to have prophylaxis effect for post-operative nausea and vomiting. Perioperative single dose of systemic dexamethasone have shown to be useful for reduction in pain and cumulative opioid consumption. Meta-analysis from De Oliveira et al supports that dexamethasone (up to 0.2 mg/kg) is a safe and effective multimodal pain strategy after surgical procedures. However, this dose recommendation is not surgery specific. It is essential to have more RCTs evaluating the optimal dose of steroid for pain management after hip and knee surgery.

Timeline

Start

2016-05-01

Primary completion

2019-01-31

Completion

2020-12-31

Outcome

Met primary endpoint

paper Compared with placebo, group D16 patients had significantly less pain during maximal active flexion on postoperative day 3 [-1.3 (95% CI, -2.2 to -0.31), P = 0.005]. PMID 33105245 ↗

Publications

• Chan TCW, Cheung CW, Wong SSC, Chung AYF, Irwin MG, Chan PK, Fu H, Yan CH, Chiu KY. Preoperative dexamethasone for pain relief after total knee arthroplasty: A randomised controlled trial. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2020 Dec;37(12):1157-1167. doi: 10.1097/EJA.0000000000001372.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.