Safe transition to opioid-free pathway after robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy.
Publication/Presentation Date
4-1-2022
Abstract
To determine whether local anesthetic infiltration and non-narcotic pain medications can safely reduce or eliminate opioid use following robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy while maintaining adequate pain control. After initiation of this quality-improvement project, patients undergoing robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy had surgeon-administered local anesthesia around all incisions into each successive layer from peritoneum to skin, with the majority infiltrated into the transversus abdominis muscle plane and posterior rectus sheath of the midline extraction incision. Post-operatively patients received scheduled acetaminophen plus ketorolac, renal function permitting. A retrospective review was performed for all cases over 19 months, spanning project implementation. 157 cases (76 in opioid-free pathway, 81 in standard pathway) were included. Five patients (6.6%) in the opioid-free pathway required post-operative opioids while inpatient, versus 61 (75.3%) in the standard pathway, p < .001. Mean patient-reported pain score on each post-operative day was lower in the opioid-free pathway compared to the standard pathway [day 0: 2.4 (SD 2.6) vs. 3.9 (SD 2.7), p < .001; day 1: 1.4 [SD 1.6] vs. 3.3 (SD 2.2), p < .001; day 2 0.9 (SD 1.5) vs. 2.6 (SD 1.9), p < .001]. Fewer post-operative complications were seen in the opioid-free pathway versus standard [0 vs. 5 (6.2%), p = 0.028], and there was no statistically significant difference in number of emergency room visits or readmissions within 3 weeks of surgery. The use of surgeon-administered local anesthetic plus scheduled non-narcotic analgesics can safely and significantly reduce opioid use after robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy while improving pain control.
Volume
16
Issue
2
First Page
307
Last Page
314
ISSN
1863-2491
Published In/Presented At
Horodyski, L., Ball, B., Emile, C., Rhodes, A., Miao, F., Reis, I. M., Carrasquillo, M. Z., Livingstone, J., Matadial, C., Ritch, C. R., & Deane, L. A. (2022). Safe transition to opioid-free pathway after robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy. Journal of robotic surgery, 16(2), 307–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-021-01237-0
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
33855681
Department(s)
Department of Medicine
Document Type
Article