Managing Perioperative Pain After Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Reconstruction: Perspectives from a Sports Medicine Surgeon

Abstract

Ioanna K Bolia, Aryan Haratian, Jennifer A Bell, Laith K Hasan, Nima Saboori, Ryan Palmer, Frank A Petrigliano, Alexander E Weber USC Epstein Family Center for Sports Medicine at Keck Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA, USACorrespondence: Alexander E WeberUSC Epstein Family Center for Sports Medicine at Keck Medicine of USC, 1520 San Pablo Street, Suite 2000, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USAEmail [email protected]: Anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions (ACLR) are a relatively common procedure in orthopedic sports medicine with an estimated 130,000 arthroscopic operations performed annually. Most procedures are carried out on an outpatient basis, and though success rates of ACLR are as high as 95%, pain remains the most common postoperative complication delaying patient discharge, and thereby increasing the costs associated with patient care. Despite the success and relative frequency of ACLR surgery, optimal and widely accepted strategies and regimens for controlling perioperative pain are not well established. In recent years, the paradigm of pain control has shifted from exclusively utilizing opiates and opioid medications in the acute postoperative period to employing other agents and techniques including nerve blocks, intra-articular and periarticular injections of local anesthetic agents, NSAIDs, and less commonly, ketamine, tranexamic acid (TXA), sedatives, gabapentin, and corticosteroids. More often, these agents are now used in combination and in synergy with one another as part of a multimodal approach to pain management in ACLR, with the goal of reducing postoperative pain, opioid consumption, and the incidence of delayed hospital discharge. The purpose of this review is to consolidate current literature on various agents involved in the management of postoperative pain following ACLR, including the role of classically used opiate and opioid medications, as well as to describe other drugs currently utilized in practice either individually or in conjunction with other agents as part of a multimodal regimen in pain management in ACLR.Keywords: anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, ACL, postoperative pain, patient outcomes, multimodal pain management

Keywords

• anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction
• acl
• postoperative pain
• patient outcomes
• multimodal pain management;