• Rikke Vibeke Nielsen, Jonna Storm Fomsgaard, Jørgen Berg Dahl, and Ole Mathiesen.
• Anæstesiologisk Afdeling, Glostrup Hospital, Nordre Ringvej 57, 2600 Glostrup, Denmark. rikkesoennichsen@gmail.com.
• Dan Med J. 2014 May 1;61(5):A4835.

IntroductionA prospective observational quality assurance study was performed at Glostrup Hospital, Denmark, to describe patients undergoing spine surgery with regard to perioperative analgesic management, post-operative pain, opioid consumption and side effects.Material And MethodsPatients eligible for the study were identified consecutively from the operation chart. The following data were registered: post-operative visual analogue (VAS) pain score at rest and during mobilisation, opioid consumption for the first 24 h, other analgesics administered and side effects.ResultsA total of 87 patients were included. For instrumented lumbar fusion patients (n = 24), the VAS pain scores at 1, 4 and 24 h after surgery were (median (interquartile range)) 5 (0-7), 2.5 (0-8) and 5.5 (0-9) at rest and 5 (0-8), 3 (0-9) and 7 (3-9) during mobilisation, respectively. The other surgical subgroups generally experienced VAS ≤ 3. For instrumented lumbar fusion, the total 0-24 h consumption of intravenous morphine equivalents was 39.1 (27.5-62.7) mg. Only eight of 87 patients received the entire scheduled standard post-operative pain treatment. Adverse events were rare.ConclusionMost patients experienced acceptable pain levels, but instrumented lumbar fusion leads to moderate to severe pain levels and a relatively high opioid consumption. The scheduled standard pain management protocols were sparsely followed. Challenges exist in post-operative pain management as observed in previous surveys, especially for instrumented lumbar fusion surgery. Future work should focus on optimising treatment plans.Fundingnot relevant.Trial Registrationnot relevant.

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