Articles: opioid.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Can We Eliminate Opioid Medications for Postoperative Pain Control? A Prospective, Surgeon-Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial in Knee Arthroscopic Surgery.
Orthopaedic surgeons have a responsibility to develop responsible opioid practices. Growing evidence has helped define an optimal number of opioids to prescribe after surgical procedures, but little evidence-based guidance exists to support specific practice patterns to decrease opioid utilization. ⋯ NCT03876743 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier).
-
Geriatric Emergency Medicine is an important frontier for study and innovation by emergency practitioners. The rapid growth of this patient population combined with complex medical and social needs has prompted research ranging from which tests and screening tools are most effective for geriatric evaluation to how we can safely manage pain in the elderly or address goals of care in the Emergency Department. This review summarizes emergency medicine articles focused on the older patient population published in 2019, which the authors consider critical to the practice of geriatric emergency medicine.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
The Efficacy of Scrambler Therapy for the Management of Head, Neck and Thoracic Cancer Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Pain is still a common feature in all types of cancers including head and neck and thoracic cancer. Neuromodulatory techniques have gained popularity over opioids in recent times because of the risks associated with chronic opioid therapy. There are no clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of scrambler therapy (ST) for the management of pain due to head and neck and thoracic cancer. ⋯ The trial showed that ST is an effective treatment for the management of pain due to head and neck and thoracic cancer. On the basis of this study, the use of ST for the management of refractory cancer pain in head and neck and thoracic cancer is recommended.
-
Optimal postoperative pain control is critical after spinal fusion surgery. There remains significant variability in the use of postoperative intravenous opioid patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) and few data evaluating its utility compared with nurse-controlled analgesia (NCA) among patients with lumbar fusion. ⋯ Postoperative PCA is associated with significantly more opioid consumption in the first 72 h after surgery and equal or worse postoperative pain scores compared with NCA after lumbar spinal fusion surgery.