Comparative Analysis of the Analgesic Effects of Intra-articular Injection of Morphine, Bupivacaine and Mixture of Morphine and Bupivacaine on Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

Evidence has revealed that opioids can produce antinociceptive effects by interacting with opioid receptors in peripheral tissues. The present research was undertaken to compare the effects of morphine with bupivacaine and with mixture of two drugs intra-articularly upon post-operative pain following arthroscopic knee surgery. The objective of this study was to find out whether intra-articular injection of morphine or local anesthetic (bupivacaine) has an analgesic effect on relief of pain after arthroscopic knee surgery and which of these drugs or mixture of them are more effective for the relief of pain. Patients & This double-blind study was done on 40 ASA I patients with 20-50 years of age. Patients were divided into four groups. At the end of arthroscopic surgery group A received 10mg morphine, group B 50mg bupivacaine(0.25%), and group C received 10mg morphine with 50mg bupivacaine(0.25%) intra-articularly. Group D was the control group. Anesthesia protocol was similar in all patients. Post-operative pain was controlled in 2, 4, 6, 8 and 24 hours after surgery with VAS(visual analouge scale). Data was analysized via t-test & SSEP Software. Findings showed that intra-articular morphine produced an analgesic effect with delayed onset and long duration, but intra-articular bupivacaine produced an analgesic effect with fast onset but short duration. Intra-articular morphine and bupivacaine together produce a fast, long and desired analgesic effect after arthroscopic knee surgery.