Pain management after total hip arthroplasty: comparative study of analgesic efficacy and tolerability between oral tramadol/dexketoprofen and injectable paracetamol + tramadol.

Background: Multimodal analgesia for total hip arthroplasty (THA) is increasingly employed to reduce early postoperative pain and promote fast patient discharge. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of tramadol/dexketoprofen (TRAM/DKP, Group A) versus paracetamol + tramadol (PARA+TRAM, Group B) in patients undergoing THA using minimally invasive direct anterior approach (DAA).

Methods: A single-centre, randomised, single-blind, parallel, interventional study conducted in 323 patients undergoing primary THA with DAA was performed. Group A consisted of 188 patients and Group B of 135. The primary endpoints were the change from baseline (measured 2 hours postoperatively) in pain intensity (PI) during the treatment period (48 hours), assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS) at pre-specified postoperative time-points (2, 8, 24, 48 hours) and the total rescue medication (RM) use during the first 24 hours postoperatively.

Results: As early as 2 hours after baseline, Group A showed a greater PI reduction from baseline compared to Group B (-26.24% vs. -6.87%; p < 0.001). A lower mean PI (VAS) score was consistently found over the entire observation period following treatment with TRAM/DKP than with PARA+TRAM as well as more than 2-fold higher proportion of responders at the end of treatment period. More patients in Group B required RM in comparison to those in Group A (15.6% vs. 3.7%, p < 0.001). Both treatments were well tolerated.

Conclusions: After THA, oral TRAM/DKP provides faster and greater pain relief when compared to intravenous PARA+TRAM with limited consumption of RM and favourable tolerability profile. Our study expands the use of TRAM/DKP in the setting of major orthopaedic surgeries.

Clinical trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04178109).