• Sharad Rajpal, Debra B Gordon, Teresa A Pellino, Andrea L Strayer, Denise Brost, Gregory R Trost, Thomas A Zdeblick, and Daniel K Resnick.
• Department of Neurosurgery, University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics, Madison, WI 5379, USA.
• J Spinal Disord Tech. 2010 Apr 1;23(2):139-45.

Study DesignA preintervention and postintervention design was used to examine a total of 200 patients.ObjectiveAfter successful implementation at our institution of a perioperative oral multimodal analgesia protocol in major joint arthroplasty, a modified regimen was provided to patients undergoing spine procedures.Summary Of Background DataA proactive, multimodal approach is currently recommended for the management of acute postoperative pain. Inadequate postoperative analgesia can negatively influence surgical outcome and duration of rehabilitation. Routine use of intravenous patient controlled analgesia (IV PCA) after surgery can result in substantial functional interference, side effects, and lead to untoward events as a result of programming errors.MethodsA preintervention and postintervention design was used to compare a historical control group of spine surgery patients who received conventional IV PCA (N=100) with a prospective group who received some form of perioperative oral multimodal analgesia (N=100). The new regimen included preoperative and postoperative scheduled extended-release oxycodone, gabapentin, and acetaminophen, intraoperative dolasetron and as-needed postoperative short-acting oral oxycodone. Patient surveys and chart audits were used to measure pain intensity, functional interference from pain, opioid consumption, analgesic-related side effects, and patient satisfaction over the first 24 hours postoperatively.ResultsPatients who received the new perioperative multimodal oral regimen had significantly less opioid consumption (P<0.001), lower ratings of Least Pain (P<0.01), and experienced less nausea (P<.001), drowsiness (P<0.05), interference with walking (P=0.05), and coughing and deep breathing (P<0.05) compared with the IV PCA group.ConclusionsThis quality improvement study shows some safety and significant advantages of a multimodal perioperative oral analgesic regimen compared with standard IV PCA after spine surgery.

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