Abstract
Liposomal bupivacaine is a novel method for pain control after total knee arthroplasty
(TKA), but recent studies showed no advantage for patients undergoing TKA compared
with traditional periarticular injection (PAI). The purpose of this analysis was to
compare the clinical outcomes between liposomal bupivacaine treatment and traditional
PAI. We retrospectively reviewed data from 16 clinical trials in published databases
from their inception to June 2017. The primary outcome was postoperative Visual Analogue
Scale (VAS) score and secondary outcomes included opiate usage, narcotic consumption,
range of motion, and length of stay. Nine randomized controlled trials and seven nonrandomized
controlled trials involving 924 liposomal bupivacaine cases and 1,293 traditional
PAI cases were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. No differences were detected
in most of the clinical outcomes, except for postoperative VAS within 12 hours and
length of stay. This analysis showed that liposomal bupivacaine is not associated
with significant improvement in postoperative pain control or other outcomes in TKA
compared with PAI.
Keywords
liposomal bupivacaine - periarticular injection - total knee arthroplasty - meta-analysis
