Recent findings of a study in ‘Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences’, found local infiltration analgesia to be an effective substitute to interscalene brachial plexus block in terms of postoperative pain relief and need of total analgesic consumption in patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery. Interestingly, interscalene brachial plexus block was found to be offer extended painless period after the surgery.

Olgun BİngÖl et al. compared postoperative pain control and shoulder functional scores of local infiltration analgesia and interscalene brachial plexus block procedures in patients for arthroscopic rotator cuff surgery.

A total of 60 patients were divided into 2 groups as:

• Group 1:  Patients with interscalene block applied with 20 mL 0.5% bupivacaine
• Group 2: Patients with Ranawat cocktail 60 ml applied in equal quantities in subacromial space and glenohumeral joint as local infiltration analgesia

VAS score was used to examine the postoperative pain and; Constant-Murley and UCLA scores were used for functional assessment of shoulder.

As found, patients in group 1 had late requirement for first analgesic. Whereas, there was no statistically noteworthy difference between these groups concerning overall analgesic usage. 

No statistically noteworthy difference concerning the Constant-Murley shoulder and UCLA scores in the 3rd month following the surgery was observed. In addition, negative correlation was observed for postoperative VAS scores and functional scores. Thus, local infiltration analgesia effectively minimizes the requirement of analgesics and improves pain in individuals undergoing arthroscopic surgery.