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Orbital pain-control catheter allows home recovery

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Delivering local anesthetic to the operative site after enucleation via an orbital pain-control catheter can give patients effective postoperative analgesia while they recover at home, according to a study.

Shannath L. Merbs, MD, PhD, and colleagues at The Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore reviewed the charts of patients who underwent enucleation and received an indwelling orbital pain control catheter. Of 85 patients, 67 were treated on an outpatient basis. The remaining 18 required postoperative hospital admission for unassociated medical problems.

Of the 67 outpatients, 58 reported using the catheter at home at least once. Of those patients, 10 reported mild discomfort. None of those patients discontinued use because of discomfort. Pain relief after self-administration lasted from 1.5 to 4 hours.

The study is published in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.