Haemodynamics, side effects and safety of the combination of continuous femoral nerve block and intravenous parecoxib for pain management after Total Knee Arthroplasty: A pilot study.

Background: Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) is a well-established surgical procedure for the treatment of knee joint diseases. This operation leads to severe acute and chronic pain, and intravenous administration of parecoxib could provide significant pain relief.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the hemodynamic data and safety profile of patients who received parecoxib compared to placebo following TKA.

Methods: Ninety patients were followed during this study and were randomly assigned into two equal groups. Group P received parecoxib and Group C received the placebo. Exclusion criteria included age < 40 or > 80 years, ASA III or higher, obesity (>140 kg), allergy to local anaesthetics, opioid dependence, contraindications for subarachnoid anaesthesia, femoral block or the administration of parecoxib.The haemodynamic data collected were Systolic Arterial Pressure (SAP), Diastolic Arterial Pressure (DAP), Heart Rate (HR), Oxygen Saturation (Ox-Sat), blood transfusion requirements and side effects. Recordings were performed every hour for up to 10 hours and at 15min, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36 hours postoperatively.

Results: The postoperative SAP and DAP data presented similar findings among groups (p>0.05) within the aforementioned time intervals. The postoperative HR data for both groups displayed no statistically significant difference between the two cohorts (p>0.05). Regarding the occurrence of transfusion, there is no statistically significant difference between the parecoxib and placebo cohorts. The frequency of side effects was negligible and could not be correlated with either group.

Conclusion: Therefore, parecoxib did not render any noticeable impact on the hemodynamic profile of the patients.