The effect of intraarticular combinations of tramadol and ropivacaine with ketamine on postoperative pain after arthroscopic meniscectomy.

Introduction: The purpose of this prospective randomized study was to evaluate the effects of intraarticular combinations of tramadol and ropivacaine with ketamine in postoperative pain control of patients undergoing arthroscopic meniscectomy.

Materials And Methods: We randomly divided 80 patients into four groups to receive intraarticular 50 mg tramadol (Group T), 50 mg tramadol with 0.5 mg kg(-1) ketamine (Group TK), 75 mg ropivacaine (Group R), 75 mg ropivacaine with 0.5 mg kg(-1) ketamine (Group RK) in 20 ml normal saline at the end of surgery. Postoperative analgesia was provided with patient-controlled analgesia with morphine. Postoperative pain scores, total morphine consumption amount and side effects were recorded at intervals of 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 h after the operation.

Results: Pain scores were higher in Group T when compared with Group R and Group RK at second and fourth hours, also compared with Group RK at zeroth, first, second, fourth and eighth hours. Total morphine consumption amount was found to be higher in Group T when compared to Group TK at eighth and twelfth hours and Group RK at eighth hours (P < 0.05). Total morphine consumption was lowest in Group TK (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences among the study groups regarding side effects.

Conclusions: Administration of intraarticular tramadol-ketamine combination was found to be more effective in decreasing postoperative daily analgesic consumption.