Reducing Perioperative Oxidative Stress to Prevent Postoperative Chronic Pain Following Total Knee Arthroplasty

One of the most common surgical procedures performed in older adults is total knee arthroplasty (TKA), with an estimated 1 million TKAs performed annually in the United States. TKA directly addresses the pathology underlying knee joint pain and mobility limitations resulting from osteoarthritis. For most patients, TKA is effective for pain reduction and increasing function. However, a subgroup of 15-20% of TKA patients report unsatisfactory long-term pain outcomes well after postsurgical healing has occurred despite technical success of the procedure. Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) following TKA has been reported to be worse than the preoperative pain in 7% of TKA patients at up to 4-years. A potential biological mechanism is perioperative oxidative stress (OS), The proposed project seeks to confirm the mechanistic role of OS in post-TKA CPSP and test the hypothesis that a perioperative intervention to reduce OS may reduce risk for CPSP post-TKA. This is a prospective randomized controlled trial that will assess preoperative, perioperative, and long-term oxidative stress (OS); pain; and functional outcomes over a 12 month period and test the hypothesis that a potent antioxidant intervention (GlyNAC) reduces OS and CPSP in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA).