Comparison of peri-articular liposomal bupivacaine and standard bupivacaine for postsurgical analgesia in total knee arthroplasty: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of intraoperative peri-articular liposomal bupivacaine and standard bupivacaine in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. METHODS: A systematic search was performed in Medline (1966-2016.9), PubMed (1966-2016.9), Embase (1980-2016.9), ScienceDirect (1985-2016.9) and the Cochrane Library. Only high-quality studies were selected. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 11.0 software. RESULTS: Three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two non-randomized controlled trials (Non-RCTs), including 1214 patients met the inclusion criteria. The present meta-analysis indicated that there were significant differences between groups in terms of visual analogue scale (VAS) score at 24 h (SMD = -0.241, 95% CI: -0.374 to -0.108, P = 0.000), VAS score at 48 h (SMD = -0.124, 95% CI: -0.256 to 0.009, P = 0.0068), morphine equivalent consumption on POD 1 (SMD = -0.275, 95% CI: -0.398 to -0.153, P = 0.000) and incidence of nausea (RD = 0.038, 95% CI: 0.001 to 0.074, P = 0.042) and vomiting (RD = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.003 to 0.072, P = 0.032). CONCLUSION: Compared to standard bupivacaine, intraoperative peri-articular liposomal bupivacaine infiltration promotes superior pain relief and less morphine consumption after total knee arthroplasty. In addition, there were fewer side effects associated with liposomal bupivacaine infiltration.