Some sensible counsel prematurely can scale back the quantity of opioid painkillers a affected person takes after orthopedic surgical procedure, new clinic trial outcomes present.
Knee surgical procedure sufferers had been a lot much less prone to take oxycodone in the event that they had been recommended to pop the drugs as a “final resort” if ache turns into insufferable, researchers report within the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgical procedure.
“Over a 3rd of sufferers within the ‘final resort’ group took no opioids in any respect after surgical procedure,” senior researcher Dr. R. Frank Henn III, chair of orthopedics on the College of Maryland Faculty of Medication, stated in a information launch. “In distinction, 9 of 10 sufferers within the standard-of-care group used opioids after surgical procedure.”
Regardless of utilizing fewer opioids, the “final resort” sufferers had about the identical common ache scores as these taking painkillers as ordinary, the research says.
Beneath normal ache administration, medical doctors counsel sufferers to take painkillers as wanted for extreme ache and to “keep forward of the ache,” researchers stated in background notes.
However overprescribing of painkillers contributed to an opioid disaster through the previous twenty years, with greater than 800,000 individuals dying from opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2023, in response to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
In consequence, medical doctors have been methods to scale back opioid use after surgical procedure, researchers stated.
For this research, researchers recruited 121 sufferers present process anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, a standard orthopedic surgical procedure for which opioid painkillers are sometimes prescribed, researchers stated. The surgical procedures happened on the College of Maryland Rehabilitation & Orthopedic Institute.
Half of the sufferers had been recommended to make use of opioids as a “final resort” for ache, whereas the opposite half obtained the usual recommendation, researchers stated.
After three months, sufferers within the “final resort” group had taken considerably much less oxycodone on common than the usual remedy group, 15 mg versus 53 mg, outcomes present.
Of “final resort” sufferers, 1 in 3 wanted no opioid painkillers in any respect, researchers discovered.
Regardless of that, ache depth scores had been about the identical, 2.5 out of 10 within the “final resort” group and a couple of.4 in the usual remedy group, the research says.
“We discovered that sufferers who had been informed to take opioids solely as a final resort took considerably much less opioids and had fewer refills, with no noticed variations in ache scores, sleep high quality or satisfaction,” Henn stated.
The “final resort” sufferers additionally suffered fewer uncomfortable side effects from opioid medication, together with nausea, constipation, GI upset and drowsiness, the research says.
“This research gives convincing proof that we should always abandon the observe of counseling sufferers to take opioids to ‘keep forward of the ache’ and counsel them to take them as a ‘final resort’ to handle ache,” lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Packer stated in a information launch.
“Taking extra opioids following surgical procedure doesn’t enhance postoperative ache and has no profit to sufferers,” stated Packer, an orthopedic surgeon and sports activities drugs specialist on the College of Maryland Medical Middle, who added, “We imagine that this strategy is relevant to all surgical procedures, and we strongly advocate that clinicians take into account adopting this straightforward technique of their observe.”
Extra info:
Jonathan D. Packer et al, Perioperative Opioid Counseling for Sufferers Present process Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgical procedure (2025). DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.24.00822
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra in regards to the opioid epidemic.
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