140 Adult Knee Arthroscopies Under Intra-Articular Local Anaesthetic

Aim: To analyse the use of intra-articular local anaesthetic (IALA) for therapeutic knee arthroscopy in the day case unit of a UK district general hospital. Methods: Investigation of 140 consecutive adult therapeutic knee arthroscopies. Visual analogue pain scores, patient satisfaction, operative details and difficulties were recorded. Costs were estimated Results: Surgical pain scores varied between 0 and 6 with 87% experiencing no pain. Only 6 patients required intraoperative sedation. 95.5% of patients were satisfied with IALA and 93% would choose IALA during future knee arthroscopies. Employing IALA reduced costs from £59.33 to £17.06. Conclusion: IALA for ambulatory day case arthroscopic knee surgery is highly reliable, safe, and cost effective. It also provides an acceptable experience for patients.