Impact of dexamethasone added to intra-articular morphine and bupivacaine for postoperative analgesia after knee arthroscopy

Toulan, Heba Fouad; Hammad, Raafat Abdel-Azim; Talaat, Amr Mohammed; Abd El-Haq, Ahmed Abd El-Daeem

doi:10.1186/s42077-021-00193-z

Impact of dexamethasone added to intra-articular morphine and bupivacaine for postoperative analgesia after knee arthroscopy

Authors

10.1186/s42077-021-00193-z

Abstract

Background
Pain relief after knee arthroscopy is very important for early recovery and rehabilitation. The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of adding dexamethasone (8 mg) to intra-articular morphine (10 mg) and bupivacaine (25 mg) combination on postoperative pain after knee arthroscopy.
Results
We enrolled 40 patients, 18–65 years-old of both sexes, ASA I and II scheduled for minor arthroscopic knee surgeries. The study group showed a lower visual analog score at rest and movement, prolonged postoperative analgesia, and decreased total analgesic consumption compared with the control group ( value < 0.05).
Conclusions
Adding dexamethasone to intra-articular combination of morphine and bupivacaine after knee arthroscopy prolongs the duration of analgesia, lowers pain scores, and decreases total analgesic consumption with no detected adverse effects.

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