Intra-articular analgesia following arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder

Shoulder surgery is very often followed by severe postoperative pain. Loco-regional anaesthesia has greatly contributed as a solution of this problem. Nevertheless most of surgery is still performed under general anaesthesia. In this case many different methods have been proposed in order to mitigate postoperative pain. Intra-articular administration of local anaesthetics after shoulder surgery is not yet in routinely clinical practice. In this study efficacy of intra-articular administration of Ropivacaine versus Bupivacaine has been evaluated. Analysis of results showed both drugs to share the same effectiveness within four hours postoperatively. In subsequent period (6-24 hours) Ropivacaine demonstrated to provide a statistically significant better postoperative pain relief. Furthermore Ropivacaine group patients needed postoperative analgesics to a lesser extent than Bupivacaine group. The long-losting satisfactory level of analgesia, particularly with Ropivacaine, could recommend the use of intra-articular analgesia even for day-hospital or one-day surgery procedures.