Effectiveness of the addition of Lidocaine to a hemostatic, bioresorbable putty in the treatment of iliac crest donor site pain

BACKGROUND: The harvest of iliac crest bone grafts (ICBG) is associated with relevant donor site pain, but may be lowered by the application of lidocaine loaded on biodegradable, hemostatic putty for sustained local analgesic release. The goal of this double-blind controlled trial was to assess the efficacy of adding lidocaine to a hemostatic putty (Orthostat ™) to treat donor site pain following harvest of ICBG in foot and ankle procedures. METHODS: After ICBG harvest during a foot and ankle procedure, the resulting bone defect was either filled with Orthostat™ (n = 7) or with the same hemostatic putty loaded with lidocaine (Orthostat-L™, n = 7). During the first 72 postoperative hours, donor site and surgical site pain were managed by patient controlled morphine delivery and a peripheral nerve block. Donor site pain was periodically quantified on a Visual Analog (VAS) and a Wong Baker FACES scale. Pain scores were plotted over time to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) to quantify the overall pain experienced in specific time intervals. RESULTS: Orthostat-L™ significantly reduced donor site pain over the first 12 hours postoperatively as evidenced by a significant decrease of the AUC in both VAS (p = 0.0366) and Wong Baker FACES pain score plots (p = 0.0024). Cumulated morphine uses were not significantly decreased with Orthostat-L™. CONCLUSION: The addition of lidocaine to a hemostatic putty offers a significant ICBG donor site pain reduction over the first 12 postoperative hours. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01504035. Registered January 2nd 2012. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-415) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.