Wafer that dissolves inside the knee - slowly releasing painkilling meds to soothe operation pain By Pat Hagan for the Daily Mail Published: 19:59 EDT, 26 August 2024 | Updated: 20:24 EDT, 26 August 2024 e-mail View comments A wafer that slowly releases painkilling medication as it dissolves inside the body could help recovery after knee replacement surgery. About the size of a 20p piece, the implant is sewn into the new joint during the operation, which is performed on around 100,000 NHS patients a year. Inside each wafer – made from the same material as dissolvable stitches – is 500mg of bupivacaine, a local anaesthetic widely used in dental procedures and childbirth.
As the wafer slowly degrades over three to four weeks, the bupivacaine seeps out on to surrounding nerve endings in the knee, blocking pain signals. The dose released is highest in the first few weeks after surgery when pain is usually at its worst. A wafer that slowly releases medication could help ease pain following knee replacement surgery (file photo) Allay Therapeutics, the US firm which developed the wafer, is also planning trials in patients needing other joint replacements and abdominal surgery.
British doctors trialling the wafer – named ATX101 – are hopeful it will eventually allow thousands of NHS patients to cut back on opioid drugs, such as morphine, routinely used to control the pain after joint replacement operations. Although effective at controlling pain, morphine and other opioids we.