In response to the opioid crisis, researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) are looking for alternate ways to reduce pain after orthopedic procedures.

In an innovative pilot study that was recently completed, investigators led by Michael P. Ast, MD, hip and knee surgeon and Chief Medical Innovation Officer at HSS, showed that a combination of oral ketamine and aspirin was safe and had few adverse effects in people undergoing total knee replacement surgery.

Based on these findings, the team is planning a much larger, randomized clinical trial to compare it to standard opioid treatment.