Multimodal regimen without narcotics may reduce opioid dependence after TKA
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SAN DIEGO — Results showed patients who did not receive narcotic medication after total knee arthroplasty had equivalent pain scores and reduced opioid dependence compared with patients who received narcotic medication.
Benjamin K. Wilke, MD, and colleagues randomly assigned narcotic-naïve patients to receive either an encapsulated 5 mg of oxycodone or an encapsulated placebo following TKA. Researchers collected pain scores every day for the first 2 weeks after surgery and followed up with patients on postoperative days 30 and 60.
Wilke noted results showed no differences in pain scores between the two groups. Despite having the same pain scores, patients in the placebo group had a lower rate of taking the narcotic medication at both postoperative days 30 and 60 compared with patients in the oxycodone group, according to Wilke.
“I think this study is more ammunition that says it is safe to get rid of these medications. We can do it in a way that is not harmful to patients, their pain is not going to go out of control and, at the end of the day, it is hopefully going to take some of these medications out of the community whereas, otherwise, they would be available for diversion,” Wilke, surgeon at Mayo Clinic Florida, told Healio Orthopedics.
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Young P, et al. Paper 112. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. Aug. 31- Sept. 3, 2021; San Diego.
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