Efficacy of Liposomal Bupivacaine Versus a Traditional Local Anesthetic in Periarticular Injections during Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Abstract

Periarticular injections (PAI) are a common component to multimodal regimens in total hip arthroplasty (THA), although the efficacy of adding liposomal bupivacaine (LB) remains unclear. A meta-analysis of total knee arthroplasty did not find LB superior, but a similar study has not been performed in THA. The purpose of this study was to compare opioid consumption, pain scores, and length of stay between PAIs with LB and traditional PAIs in THA. Eleven included studies showed LB to have minor decreases in opioid consumption and length of stay. No clinically significant benefits were achieved in pain control based on minimal clinically important difference thresholds. There is not adequate evidence to suggest that the increased cost of LB merits its utilization over traditional PAI in THA. The variability in the study designs, as well as results, calls for more consistent randomized clinical trials to ascertain the true efficacy of LB. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 33(3):143-153, 2024).