Postoperative chondrolysis after intra-articular pain pump infusion of an anesthetic medication - now in the knee as well as the shoulder. JBJS

Previous posts on this blog from 3/25/11, 4/7/11, 10/1/11, 11/3/11, 11/9/11, 11/10/11, 11/29/11, 12/31/11, 1/23/12, 2/18/12 and 4/11/12 have dealt with the development of postoperative glenohumeral chondrolysis after intra-articular pain pump infusion of an anesthetic medication.

The JBJS recently published an article regarding the same complication of pain pumps when used in the knee: "The Development of Postoperative Knee Chondrolysis After Intra-Articular Pain Pump Infusion of an Anesthetic Medication: A Series of Twenty-One Cases". 

In each of 17 knees in this most recent report, 0.5% bupivacaine was infused and in one 0.25% bupivacaine was infused.

This article provides additional independent evidence supporting the causation of chondrolysis by pain pumps, even though this causational relationship has been termed 'speculative' by some authors.

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