New Application of Buprenorphine Patch on Painful Knee Joint in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients

Osteoarthritis (OA) is already one of the most disabling diseases in developed countries. Intra-articular (IA) injection of opioid in joints has been widely studied for its simplicity, safety and efficacy. We suggest the method of opioid patch regional application to OA patients instead of intra-articular opioid injections. We had applied buprenorphine patch to painful knee joint in knee OA patients, and compared knee application with conventional chest application for analgesic effects, adverse effects and compliance of buprenorphine patch. We willl retrospectively enroll about 200 patients with knee OA who did not respond to conventional therapy. Numeric rating scale (NRS), adverse effects, and compliance were checked and recorded before and after buprenorphine patch applied. All parameters were compared between chest applied group and knee applied group.