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Liposomal bupivacaine in adult deformity surgery linked with less narcotic consumption
LOS ANGELES — The combination of liposomal bupivacaine and bupivacaine used in patients undergoing adult deformity surgery was associated with reduced opioid requirements among patients who underwent arthrodesis for scoliosis or kyphosis, a surgeon said at the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting.
Michael S. Chang, MD, said he and his colleagues prospectively studied statistically similar patients with similar diagnoses and comparable preoperative VAS scores who received either combined liposomal bupivacaine (90 patients) or standard bupivacaine (69 patients) in the incisional region during surgery.
“If we look at total overall opioid consumption patients, we see that there’s actually a significant decrease between the two populations,” Chang said.
Researchers found the combined bupivacaine group consumed 18% fewer morphine-equivalent units than the standard bupivacaine group.
“Most of this can be attributed to a substantial decrease in IV opioid consumption on postop day 3,” he said.
In addition, the combined bupivacaine group tended to report lower pain scores as the length of their hospital stay increased vs. the standard bupivacaine group.
However, “We looked at the VAS scores overtime in the hospital and overall, there were no statistically significant differences,” Chang said.
“At least in the study of adult spinal deformity, the additional of liposomal bupivacaine did not appear to directly affect length of stay or postoperative pain scores, but did significantly decrease the need for narcotic usage,” he said. – by Susan M. Rapp
Reference:
Chang MS, et al. Paper 71. Presented at: North American Spine Society Annual Meeting; Sept. 26-29, 2018; Los Angeles.
Disclosure: Chang reports no relevant financial disclosures.