The Effect of Intra-Articular Meperidine and Bupivacaine 0.5% on Postoperative Pain of Arthroscopic Knee Surgery; a Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial

Results: The bupivacaine-meperidine group had better duration of postoperative analgesia (P = 0.001), latter first analgesic request (P ≤ 0.001), lower total fentanyl consumption in first 24 hours after the operation (P = 0.001), less mean VAS at 2 hours (P = 0.001) and more patients’ overall satisfaction (P = 0.01) compared with each medication alone. VAS at 6, 12 and 24 postoperative hours were not different between the groups of study. No adverse effects were observed. Conclusions: Although postoperative intra-articular meperidine is a better alternative for bupivacaine, their combination could improve their analgesic effects compared with each other alone.