Abstracts Posters SICOT-SOF meeting Gothenburg 2010 _2_

Poster
Topic: Sports Medicine - Hand / Wrist
Abstract number: 23939
ANALGESIA POST WRIST ARTHROSCOPY – A RANDOMISED CONTROL
TRIAL
Yuvraj AGRAWAL, Alex KOCHETA, Kim RUSSON, Indranil CHAKRABARTI
Rotherham General Hospital NHS Trust, Rotherham (UNITED KINGDOM)
Introduction: Wrist block (WB) has been used to provide pain relief for many
procedures on hand and wrist but its role in wrist arthroscopy remains unexplored.
We aimed to evaluate and compare the analgesic effect of portal and wrist joint
infiltration to pain relief provided by the WB after wrist arthroscopy. Materials and
Methods: Patients undergoing wrist arthroscopy as a day case were randomised. 10
mls of 0.5% Levo-bupivacaine was used for infiltration of portals and wrist joint after
the procedure or 15 mls for WB before the procedure. Effects were evaluated using
Visual Analogue Score (VAS). Primary outcomes were pain scores, average pain
scores, area under the curve pain scores and duration of effect. Results: We provide
demographic data for patients undergoing these procedures in our unit, outcomes of
both techniques of analgesia and compare VAS scores and duration of analgesia.
There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to age,
weight, gender, and duration of surgery. The results should allow us to standardise
the technique for pain relief in these patients and allow patients to make an informed
choice. Discussion: Wrist arthroscopy is the gold standard in diagnosis and treatment
of carpal ligament injuries and its role is continuously been expanded. Animal and
human in-vitro studies show chondrotoxicity of anaesthetic agents on joint infiltration.
We believe both techniques provide satisfactory pain relief but WB does not expose
the patients to the potential risk of chondrotoxicity and hence should be used instead
of joint infiltration.
463