Articles: opioid-analgesics.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jul 2023
Practice Advisory for Preoperative and Intraoperative Pain Management of Thoracic Surgical Patients: Part 1.
Pain after thoracic surgery is of moderate-to-severe intensity and can cause increased postoperative distress and affect functional recovery. Opioids have been central agents in treating pain after thoracic surgery for decades. The use of multimodal analgesic strategies can promote effective postoperative pain control and help mitigate opioid exposure, thus preventing the risk of developing persistent postoperative pain. ⋯ It is a systematic review of existing literature for various interventions related to the preoperative and intraoperative pain management of thoracic surgical patients and provides recommendations for providers caring for patients undergoing thoracic surgery. This entails developing customized pain management strategies for patients, which include preoperative patient evaluation, pain management, and opioid use-focused education as well as perioperative use of multimodal analgesics and regional techniques for various thoracic surgical procedures. The literature related to this field is emerging and will hopefully provide more information on ways to improve clinically relevant patient outcomes and promote recovery in the future.
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Pain is a significant symptom experienced frequently by individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD). Pain management includes strategies such as oral rehydration, non-pharmacological therapies (eg, massage, relaxation), and oral analgesics and opioids. Shared decision-making around pain management is emphasized repeatedly in recent guidelines; however, research is sparse regarding factors to be considered in shared decision-making approaches including the perceived risks and benefits of opioids. ⋯ Elements of patient and caregiver decision-making identified in this study may be applied to shared decision-making strategies in the clinical setting and future study. PERSPECTIVE: This study illustrates the factors involved in decision-making around home opioid use for pain management in children and young adults with SCD. These findings can be applied to determining shared decision-making approaches around pain management between providers and patients, in accordance with recent SCD pain management guidelines.
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Meta Analysis
Do Intrathecal Opioids Improve Surgical Outcomes After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting? A Systematic Review and Analysis.
Intrathecal opioids have long been used as analgesia for intractable cancer pain or as part of spinal anesthesia during obstetric operations. More recently, they have been used preoperatively as a pain management adjuvant for open cardiac and thoracic procedures. ⋯ We conclude that preoperative injection of intrathecal opioids is significantly associated with decreased time to extubation, decreased postoperative analgesia requirement, and improved pain scores. In controlled conditions with adequate staff education, this method of analgesia may make it possible to extubate the patients after the surgery in the operating room and fast-track their discharge from the hospital.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jul 2023
Practice Advisory for Preoperative and Intraoperative Pain Management of Cardiac Surgical Patients: Part 2.
Pain after cardiac surgery is of moderate to severe intensity, which increases postoperative distress and health care costs, and affects functional recovery. Opioids have been central agents in treating pain after cardiac surgery for decades. The use of multimodal analgesic strategies can promote effective postoperative pain control and help mitigate opioid exposure. ⋯ This Practice Advisory provides recommendations for providers caring for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. This entails developing customized pain management strategies for patients, including preoperative patient evaluation, pain management, and opioid use-focused education as well as perioperative use of multimodal analgesics and regional techniques for various cardiac surgical procedures. The literature related to this field is emerging, and future studies will provide additional guidance on ways to improve clinically meaningful patient outcomes.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jul 2023
Post-surgical discharge opioid prescribing, use and handling after introduction of a stewardship program.
SummaryOpioids are often used to provide postsurgical analgesia but may cause harm if used inappropriately. We introduced an opioid stewardship program in three Melbourne hospitals to reduce the inappropriate use of opioids after patient discharge. The program had four pillars: prescriber education, patient education, a standardised quantity of discharge opioids, and general practitioner (GP) communication. ⋯ Ongoing opioid therapy at three months in our study cohort (9.7%; 39/404) was associated with preoperative opioid consumption and higher pain scores at the three-month follow-up. The introduction of the opioid stewardship program resulted in highly guideline-compliant prescribing, but hospital-to-GP communication was uncommon and opioid disposal rates were low. Our findings suggest that opioid stewardship programs can improve postoperative opioid prescribing, use and handling, but the realisation of these gains will require effective program implementation.