Pre-operative Intravenous Steroid in Total Knee Replacement for Pain Relief and Recovery
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2019-06-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Osteoarthritis of the knee is a common and important condition in our society. Despite
various anesthetic methods and pain medications, pain after operation still remains as a
challenge.
Steroids plays a role in decreasing the inflammatory reaction and stress response from
surgery.
This study is to evaluate the use of an additional steroid injection, on top of usual pain
killers and anesthesia, on the effect of pain control and recovery after total knee
replacement.
50 subjects will be recruited, half of them will be randomized to receive a single dose of
steroid injection before operation while the other half will receive a placebo. All the
doctors, patients and physiotherapists are not aware of the allocation. Apart from the
steroid or placebo injection, all the other treatment (eg: surgery, medications,
rehabilitation protocol etc) will be the same. Doctors and physiotherapists will assess the
subjects at 24, 30, 48 hours after surgery and upon discharge for their pain relief and
recovery. Any complications will also be documented.