Hybrid Pain Management Strategy Attenuated Acute Pain and Reduced Left-Over Opioid Doses

ABSTRACT

Problem: Clinicians treating postprocedure acute pain after third molar removal face a twofold challenge attenuating pain levels while simultaneously limiting leftover opioid doses. Strategies for achieving the dual goals range from “letting patients decide,” which can lead to leftover doses and misuse, or “letting clinicians decide,” only prescribing opioids for those predicted to experience severe discomfort, which risks under-managing acute pain. A hybrid strategy relies on joint decision-making between the patient and clinician. The hypothesis for this IRB-approved prospective study was that a hybrid-strategy would be successful in moderating acute pain and reducing leftover opioid doses. Methods and Materials This study included patients who met the American Society of Anesthesiologists, risk classification I or II, ages 18 to 35 years, with at least 2 mandibular third molars removed. Patients being treated for opioid addiction/abuse were excluded. All enrolled subject patients were consented and treated with a multimodal analgesic protocol consisting of intraoperative IV preventive antibiotics, dexamethasone, ketorolac, ondansetron, local anesthetics including liposomal bupivacaine and postoperative cold therapy, and scheduled ibuprofen. Patients were given 2 prescriptions (Rx), each for 4 doses of Hydrocodone/APAP 5/325, to be taken as needed for pain;1 Rx could be filled on the day of surgery, the second on any subsequent day. Opioid Rx data were retrieved from patient records and North Carolina Controlled Substances Reporting System. Pain scores and opioid-use data for each postsurgery day (PSD) were derived from a 14-day diary recorded by subjects. For the patients in this series, the goal was median pain levels ranked 1 or 2 on a 7-point scale, meaning no pain and minimal pain by postoperative day (POD) 3. Descriptive statistics were used for analyses. Results: Data were analyzed from 96 eligible patients treated consecutively from 2018 to 22, with a 15-month hiatus from COVID-19. Fifty-two patients (54%) did not fill an opioid prescription. Twenty-seven patients (28%) filled 1 opioid prescription and 17 patients (18%) filled 2 of the prescriptions. The patients who filled 1 prescription had 72 leftover doses (67% of possible doses), and the patients who filled 2 prescriptions had 50 leftover doses (74% of possible doses). Median worst pain levels reached 1 to 2 out of 7 on POD 4;median average pain on POD 3. Conclusions: The hybrid strategy reduced the number of opioid doses in circulation without compromising the patient's postoperative pain level. Decreasing the number of leftover opioid doses is an important step toward addressing opioid addiction and overdose. References 1 Magraw CBL, Pham M, Neal T, Kendell B, Reside G, Phillips C, White RP Jr A multimodal analgesic protocol may reduce opioid use after third molar surgery A pilot study. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Path Oral Radiol 126214, 2018. 2 Pham M, Magraw C, Neal T, Kendell B, Reside G, Phillips C, White R A Multi-modal Analgesic Protocol reduced opioid use/misuse after 3rd Molar Surgery An Exploratory Study. Submitted Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Path Oral Radiol March 2019 3 Pham M, Magraw C, Neal T, Kendell B, Reside G, Phillips C, White R A Multimodal Analgesic Protocol reduced acute pain levels after 3rd molar surgery. In preparation JOMS 4 White RP Jr, Shugars DA, Shafer DM, Laskin DM, Buckley MJ, Phillips C Recovery after third molar surgery clinical and health-related quality of life outcomes. J Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 61535, 2003. 5 American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Acute Pain Management. Anesthesiology 116248, 2012 6-Savarese JJ, Tabler NG Jr Multimodal analgesia as an alternative to the risks of opioid monotherapy in surgical pain management. J Health Care Risk Manag 3724, 2017