No positive effect of autologous platelet gel after total knee arthroplasty: A double-blind randomized controlled trial: 102 patients with a 3-month follow-up

Background and purpose Activated platelets release a cocktail of growth factors, some of which are thought to stimulate repair. We investigated whether the use of autologous platelet gel (PG) in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) would improve wound healing and knee function, and reduce blood loss and the use of analgesics. Patients and methods 102 patients undergoing TKA were randomly assigned to a PG group (n 50) or to a control (C) group (n 52). The primary analysis was based on 73 participants (PG: 32; C: 41) with comparison of postoperative wound scores, VAS, WOMAC, knee function, use of analgesics, and the pre- and postoperative hemoglobin values after a follow-up of 3 months. 29 participants were excluded due to insufficient data. Results The characteristics of the protocol-compliant patients were similar to those of the patients who w

Wie zuverlässig ist unser Gedächtnis für akute postoperative Schmerzen?

Objectiles: Clinicians use patients' reca II of pain as an important source of evidence both in diagnosis and in assessing improvements following treatment. Yet very little is known about the accuracy of these retrospective accounts up to now. Methods: We examined patients' retrospective evaluations of the pain they experienced at the first postoperative day and related these evaluations to the pain intensity which was recorded in the PCA-report. Results: We found that recall was moderately accurate. Patients mostly overestimated their pain intensity. We could demonstrate that patients who overestimated their pain differed significantly from those who did not. The patients who overestimated showed no significant pain relief over the first three postoperative days. Other influences were the pain intensity of the third day and patients' expectations of the postoperative pain intensity. Our results could be embedded within the theoretical framework of general memory research. Conclusions: We conclude that real-time evaluations of pain intensity should be recorded additionally to retrospective accounts. Retrospective ratings are important too, because we suggest that the memory of pain more than the experience of pain itself form the basis of patients' future decisions about treatment including their compliance and their satisfaction with pain management