NCT01345604

Intraoperative Posterior Cruciate Ligament (Transcruciate) Injection After Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)

Reducing Posterior Knee Pain Following Total Knee Arthroplasty Using an Intraoperative Posterior Cruciate Ligament (Transcruciate) Injection

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 4
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 50 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Saskatchewan · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 16 Years – 100 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

his study is being done because total knee replacements can leave patients with considerable pain after surgery. Therefore, many studies have been done to find the best ways to control knee pain after the surgery. Currently, a popular approach is to use many different techniques to control the pain. This includes injecting freezing (local anesthetic) into the spinal column (spinal anesthetic), injecting freezing close to the nerves of the knee and using various kinds of medications (e.g. narcotics and anti-inflammatory medications). Studies have shown using this a combination of techniques can reduce pain and allow earlier discharge from the hospital. However, one downside to this approach is it does not usually control the pain in the back of the knee. One new technique has been used to try and overcome this. This technique is called a "posterior cruciate ligament block" or "PCL block". It involves injecting a drug into the back of the knee which will block the nerves in this area. Sometimes the investigators refer to this as "freezing". The purpose of our study is to determine whether this "PCL Block" will improve pain after the total knee replacement surgery. The investigators will also determine whether this technique will improve movement in the knee and lessen narcotic usage after the surgery.

Conditions

• Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	transcruciate injection of 20cc of normal saline	Group 2 (control group) will receive a transcruciate injection of 20cc of normal saline through the posterior cruciate ligament during the procedure (in addition to a subarachnoid block and femoral nerve block pre-operatively).
PROCEDURE	transcruciate injection of 20 cc of 0.5% Ropivacaine	Group 1 (study group) will receive a transcruciate injection of 20 cc of 0.5% Ropivacaine through the posterior cruciate ligament during the procedure (in addition to a subarachnoid block and femoral nerve block pre-operatively).

Timeline

• Start date: 2011-05-01
• Primary completion: 2013-05-01
• Completion: 2013-05-01
• First posted: 2011-05-02
• Last updated: 2016-11-15

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada