| Epidural analgesia and infiltration analgesia are difficult to use after total knee arthroplasty. Both techniques were
compared in this study to determine which was more effective. The data was collected by random allocation between
epidural (EA) and local infiltration (LIA) anesthesia for 60 patients with an average age of 65.7 years. Each patient under
spinal anesthesia received an epidural catheter. A mixture of bupivacaine, ketorolac, morphine sulfate, and epinephrine was
administered to the EA group, while normal saline injections were given to the LIA group. Using an epidural catheter,
25mg of bupivacaine diluted in 75mL of normal saline was administered via a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) infusion
pump after surgery. However, 100ml of normal saline was injected into the epidural catheter in the LIA group, blocking the
PCA pump. It was not found that there was a significant difference in demographics between the two groups. A significant
difference was found between the VAS scores of people in the EA group and those in the LIA group after surgery as they
had greater pain until 12 hours after surgery. It was noticeable that the pain of the EA group was significantly lower than
the pain of the LIA group by 24 hours, and by 48 hours, the difference was no longer significant. Hemoglobin drops and
drain volume were lower in the LIA group. A superior range of motion in the knee was not found in the LIA or EA groups
two weeks after surgery. The ability of patients to perform active straight leg raises one day after surgery was not
significantly different between groups. Analgesia administered locally after surgery provided more pain relief than epidural
analgesia 12 hours later. An epidural anesthesia control was better after 48 hours of postoperative pain. In terms of straight
leg rising ability and knee range of motion, no significant differences were found between the two groupsddd |
