• Gennadiy A Katsevman, Andrew A Allison, Wei Fang, Jennifer Confer, Shahed Elhamdani, Alastair Hoyt, Jeffrey M Garavaglia, and Robert A Marsh.
• Department of Neurosurgery, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Electronic address: gkatsev@gmail.com.
• World Neurosurg. 2020 Sep 1; 141: e820-e828.

BackgroundLiposomal bupivacaine (LB) is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for administration into surgical sites for postsurgical analgesia. The liposomal formulation allows for sustained effects up to 72 hours.MethodsA retrospective study assessed patients undergoing lumbar interbody surgery. Visual analog scale pain scores and amount of opioids consumed were recorded at 12-hour intervals for 72 hours postoperatively, as were patterns of discharge and hospital length of stay (LOS).ResultsA total of 122 patients (97 LB vs. 25 control group) were reviewed. Median LOS was shorter in the LB cohort compared with controls (1.94 vs. 3.08 days, respectively; P = 0.0043). When assessing the percentage of discharges between groups at 12-hour intervals, there were significantly more discharges in the LB cohort at 36-48 hours (P = 0.0226), and no differences elsewhere. There was a decrease in intravenous opioids consumed at 48-60 hours in the LB cohort compared with controls (P = 0.0494), a difference not detected at other time points or with oral or total opioids. Mean visual analog scale scores were significantly higher in the LB cohort compared with controls at 0-12 hours (5.2 vs. 3.9, respectively; P = 0.0079), but insignificantly different subsequently up to 72 hours. The LB cohort and controls were not significantly different in total amount of opioids consumed, overall pain scores, or regarding how the opioid amount consumed or pain scores changed over time.ConclusionsThe use of LB in lumbar interbody fusion decreases patients' LOS but has little effect on reducing overall pain scores or opioid use in the 72-hour postoperative hospital period.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

32 keywords...

hide…