• Chul-Hyun Cho, Si-Wook Lee, Young-Kuk Lee, Hong-Kwan Shin, and Ilseon Hwang.
• Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Dongsan Medical Center, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea.
• Yonsei Med. J. 2015 May 1;56(3):772-7.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects and safety of a sleep aid for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.Materials And MethodsSeventy-eight patients were prospectively assigned to either the zolpidem group (multimodal analgesia+zolpidem; 39 patients) or the control group (multimodal analgesia; 39 patients). Self-rated pain levels were assessed twice a day using a visual analog scale (VAS). The need for additional rescue analgesic, duration of functional recovery, and adverse effects were assessed for the first 5 days after surgery.ResultsThe mean number of times that additional rescue analgesic was required during 5 days after surgery was 2.1±2.0 in the zolpidem group and 3.3±2.8 in the control group, a significant difference. There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean VAS pain scores during the first 5 days after surgery, although the zolpidem group had lower VAS pain scores than the control group. Additionally, there were no significant differences in duration of functional recovery and adverse effects between the two groups.ConclusionThe use of zolpidem for analgesia after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair provided a significant reduction in the need for rescue analgesic without increasing adverse effects. Nevertheless, mean VAS pain scores during the first 5 days after surgery did not differ between the zolpidem group and the control group.

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