Effect of Enhanced Recovery Protocol on Opioid Use in Pelvic Organ Prolapse Surgery

Pudendal Block at the Time of Transvaginal Prolapse Repair: A Randomized Controlled Trial

IMPORTANCE

The utility of pudendal nerve blocks (PNBs) at the time of transvaginal surgery is mixed in the literature. No published study has evaluated the efficacy of PNB since the widespread adoption of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) pathways.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to determine if PNB, in addition to ERAS measures, at the time of vaginal reconstructive surgery reduces opioid use in the immediate postoperative period.

STUDY DESIGN

In this randomized, blinded, controlled trial, women scheduled for transvaginal multicompartment prolapse repair were randomized to bilateral PNB before incision with 20 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine versus usual care. Primary outcome was opioid use in morphine milligram equivalents (MME) for the first 24 hours. The study was powered to detect a 5.57-MME difference in opioid use in the first 24 hours between groups.

RESULTS

Forty-four patients were randomized from January 2020 to April 2022. The PNB and control groups were well matched in demographic and surgical data. There was no difference in opioid use in first 24 hours between the control and PNB groups (8 [0-20] vs 6.7 [0-15]; P = 0.8). Median pain scores at 24 and 48 hours did not differ between groups (4 ± 2 vs 3 ± 3; P = 0.44) and 90% of participants were satisfied with pain control across both groups. Time to return to normal activities (median, 10 days) was also not different between the groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Because pain satisfaction after transvaginal surgery in the era of ERAS is high, with overall low opioid requirements, PNB provides no additional benefit.

Caprini Model Integration into an Electronic Medical Record to Improve Perioperative Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis

This quality-improvement retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing major elective nononcologic gynecologic surgery compares the proportion of patients receiving appropriate perioperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) chemoprophylaxis before and after a novel integration of the Caprini risk-assessment model (RAM) into the electronic medical record (EMR). A sample size of 83 patients in each group (166 total) was calculated to provide 80% power and show a 20% increase in appropriate administration of VTE prophylaxis, with an alpha of 0.05. Heparin was appropriately used in 24 patients (28.9%) in the pre-Caprini-RAM group and 39 patients (47.0%) in the post-Caprini-RAM group ( P =.016). There were no differences in bleeding events, transfusions, or other secondary outcomes. Integrating the Caprini-RAM into an EMR for patients undergoing nononcologic gynecologic surgery significantly improved appropriate use of VTE chemoprophylaxis.