Purpose: To investigate the association of local infiltration with liposomal bupivacaine (LB) on postoperative pain, opioid consumption, and early functional recovery in patients undergoing open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for tibial plateau fracture. Patients and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted including 252 patients aged 18– 80 years treated between 2022 and 2024. Patients were divided into LB group (n=142) and non-LB group (n=110). Primary outcomes were resting visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores at 24, 48, and 72 hours postoperatively and total opioid consumption. Secondary outcomes included time to first opioid use, time to first functional exercise, length of hospital stay, and adverse events. Normal distribution was tested using the Shapiro–Wilk test. Continuous variables were compared using independent t -test or Mann–Whitney U -test as appropriate. Categorical variables were analyzed using χ 2 or Fisher exact test. Repeated measures VAS data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models (LMM). A two-sided P 0.05). Conclusion: In this retrospective cohort study, perioperative local infiltration with LB was associated with reduced postoperative pain, lower opioid consumption, earlier functional exercise, and shorter hospital stay among patients undergoing ORIF for tibial plateau fracture, with a favorable safety profile. LB may be considered a valuable component of multimodal analgesia in this clinical setting. Keywords: liposomal bupivacaine, tibial plateau fracture, open reduction and internal fixation, postoperative analgesia, opioid consumption, retrospective cohort study
Song et al. (Mon,) studied this question.