Comparison of Postoperative Pain in Primary Cemented Total Knee Arthroplasty With or Without Drain

The use of closed aspirative surgical drainage presents a truly questionable role in the field of orthopedic surgery.

The pathophysiological mechanisms on which it acts have been widely theorized, as well as the disadvantages that could be associated, both at a biological and socio-sanitary level, so that clinical guidelines opt to leave the decision to the surgeon's discretion.

Although its application and postoperative complications in knee arthroplasty are widely documented, the results are inconclusive and the scientific community does not seem to reach a consensus.

The main debate centers on bleeding during the immediate postoperative period, a classic complication of these interventions, but which seems to be being avoided with the introduction of new techniques and drugs, mainly the use of tranexamic acid.

However, a fundamental element of the postoperative period of these interventions that all the research seems to omit is pain in the postoperative period, which is key, as the pain of gonarthrosis is the main indication for the intervention.

It is because of this lack in the essential knowledge of this intervention that we propose the following hypothesis: the use of drainage in knee arthroplasty does not reduce pain during the early postoperative period.