For the management of acute postsurgery pain in arthroscopic lower limb surgery, a transdermal patch of 20 μg·h^-1 buprenorphine is more effective when compared to buprenorphine patch 10 μg·h^-1 and fentanyl patch 25 μg·h^-1, as found from the findings of a randomized controlled trial  published in Journal of Anaesthesiology Clinical Pharmacology.

This prospective double-blinded study was performed to determine the analgesic efficacy of buprenorphine and fentanyl patch to control pain in the postsurgery period in adult people undergoing lower limb arthroscopic surgeries.

Participants were randomized to three groups: (i) Group 1 (25 μg·h^-1 fentanyl patch), (ii) Group 2 (10 μg·h^-1 buprenorphine patch), and (iii) Group 3 (20 μg·h^-1 buprenorphine patch). The transdermal patches were applied 12 hours before surgery. The mean numerical rating scale (NRS) score, total rescue analgesic need, drug-associated adverse effects, and hemodynamic status were assessed till 72 hours in the postsurgery period.

Out of 175 screened participants, 150 participants were finally assessed. All three groups exhibited similar baseline characteristics. The median NRS score was found to be lowest in Group 3 at two, four, eight, 12, and 24 h following arthroscopic surgery (Kruskal Wallis test), as depicted in Table 1:

The total intake of postsurgery rescue analgesic diclofenac was lowest in Group 3 in comparison with other groups without any considerable rise in adverse events, as shown in table 2:

Thus, the buprenorphine patch can effectively and safely relieve acute pain after lower limb surgery.