Butkus JM, Awosanya S, Scott ER, Perlov N, Hannikainen P, Tekumalla S, Armache M, Stewart M, Willcox T, Chiffer R. Multimodal Analgesia and Patient Education Reduce Postoperative Opioid Consumption in Otology.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2023. [PMID:
36939618 DOI:
10.1002/ohn.229]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Revised: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to validate alternative pain management strategies that can reduce reliance on opioids for postoperative pain management in otology.
STUDY DESIGN
Prospective cohort study.
SETTING
Single tertiary-care facility.
METHODS
Adult patients who underwent outpatient otologic surgery from September 2021 to July 2022 were randomized into treatment cohorts. The opioid monotherapy cohort received a standard opioid prescription. The multimodal analgesia cohort received the same opioid prescription, prescriptions for acetaminophen and naproxen, and additional pain management education with a flyer on discharge. All patients completed a questionnaire 1 week after surgery to evaluate opioid usage and pain scores.
RESULTS
Eighty-six patients completed the study. The opioid monotherapy cohort (n = 42) and multimodal analgesia cohort (n = 44) were prescribed an average of 42.1 ± 20.4 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) and 38.4 ± 5.7 MME, respectively (p = 0.373). Four patients (9.52%) in the opioid monotherapy cohort required opioid refills compared to 1 patient (2.27%) in the multimodal analgesia cohort (p = 0.156). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the multimodal analgesia cohort consumed significantly fewer opioids on average than the opioid monotherapy cohort (11.9 ± 15.9 MME vs 22.8 ± 28.0 MME, respectively). There were no significant differences in postoperative rehospitalizations (p = 0.317) or Emergency Department visits (p = 0.150). Pain scores on the day of surgery, postoperative day (POD) 1, POD3, and POD7 were not significantly different between cohorts (p = 0.395, 0.896, 0.844, 0.765, respectively).
CONCLUSION
The addition of patient education, acetaminophen, and naproxen to postoperative opioid prescriptions significantly reduced opioid consumption without affecting pain scores, refill rates, or complication rates after otologic surgery.
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