Analgesic effect of intra-articular injection of ropivacaine versus intravenous injection of flubiprofen after local anesthesia arthroscopic surgery

Objective To compare the analgesic effect of intra-articular injection of ropivacaine versus intravenous injection of flurbiprofen after knee arthroscopic surgery. Methods Patients underwent knee arthroscopic surgery in our hospital from June 2016 to June 2017 were selected, and they were randomly divided into flurbiprofen group (n=36) and ropivacaine group (n=37). Patients in ropivacaine group received ropivacaine (5 ml) by intra-articular and local injection at surgical incision, while patients in flurbiprofen group received intravenous injection of flurbiprofen (10 mg) at the end of surgery. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the postoperative pain level at 1 h, 3 h, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h after surgery. Results There was no significant difference in VAS scores between fluniprofen group and ropivacaine group at 1 h (1.17±0.67 vs 0.96±0.84), 3 h (2.13±1.29 vs 1.87±1.29), 6 h (2.47±1.38 vs 2.44±1.34), 12 h (2.78±0.95 vs 3.52±1.53), and 24 h (1.68±1.17 vs 2.35±1.15) (all P> 0.05). Six patients in flurbiprofen group had vomit and nausea while no side effect was found in ropivacaine group. Conclusion Compared with intravenous injection of flubiprofen, intra-articular and local injection of ropivacaine can effectively relieve the postoperative pain for patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery with rare side effects.