The pneumatic tourniquet in arthroscopic surgery of the knee

In a randomized study 56 patients undergoing arthroscopic surgery of the knee were randomly allocated to one of 2 groups: surgery with a tourniquet and surgery without a tourniquet. No significant difference was found between the 2 groups with regard to operating times, technical intraoperative difficulties, identification of intraarticular structures, postoperative pain or postoperative complications. In neither group was the procedure abandoned due to technical difficulties. The pain scores in the non-tourniquet group were lower than those in the group of patients operated on with the use of a pneumatic tourniquet. The study suggests that the use of a tourniquet in arthroscopic surgery of the knee is unnecessary.