Impact of intraoperative intravenous magnesium on spine surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Analgesic Effects of Preoperative Combination of Oral Pregabalin and Intravenous Magnesium Sulfate on Postoperative Pain in Patients Undergoing Posterolateral Spinal Fusion Surgery: A 4-arm, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Multimodal perioperative pain management including nonopioid analgesia is a major pillar of enhanced recovery after surgery programs. The aim of this study was to investigate the analgesic efficacy of the preoperative combination of 2 nonopioid drugs, oral pregabalin and intravenous magnesium sulfate, in patients undergoing posterolateral lumbar spinal fusion.

METHODS

This 4-arm, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial included 104 patients randomly allocated to receive: magnesium sulfate and pregabalin (MP), magnesium sulfate and oral placebo (M), 0.9% saline and oral pregabalin (P), and 0.9% saline and oral placebo (C). The study drugs were administered 1 hour preoperatively. The primary outcome was the cumulative morphine consumption on postoperative day 1. Secondary outcomes included visual analog scale scores for leg pain at rest and with movement, and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in the first 48 hours after surgery.

RESULTS

Cumulative morphine consumption on postoperative day 1 was lower in group MP (19.6±8.0 mg) compared with group M (32.6±9.5 mg; P <0.001), group P (28.9±9.4 mg; P =0.001), or group C (38.8±10.3 mg; P <0.001). Multiple linear regression demonstrated a significant association between group MP and cumulative morphine consumption (B=-5.4 [95% CI, -7.1, -3.7], P <0.001). Visual analog scale scores for leg pain at rest and with movement were lower in group MP compared with other groups ( P =0.006 and <0.001). The incidence of PONV was also lowest in group MP ( P =0.032).

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative administration of oral pregabalin and intravenous magnesium sulfate resulted in reduced morphine consumption and greater analgesic effect than the use of each drug individually or placebo in patients undergoing posterolateral lumbar spinal fusion.

Development of multidisciplinary, evidenced-based protocol recommendations and implementation strategies for anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery following a literature review

The anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) procedure involves several surgical specialties, including general, vascular, and spinal surgery due to its unique approach and anatomy involved. It also carries its own set of complications that differentiate it from posterior lumbar fusion surgeries. The demonstrated benefits of treatment guidelines, such as Enhanced Recovery after Surgery in other surgical procedures, and the lack of current recommendations regarding the anterior approach, underscores the need to develop protocols that specifically address the complexities of ALIF. We aimed to create an evidence-based protocol for pre-, intra-, and postoperative care of ALIF patients and implementation strategies for our health system. A 12-member multidisciplinary workgroup convened to develop an evidence-based treatment protocol for ALIF using a Delphi consensus methodology and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system for rating the quality of evidence and strength of protocol recommendations. The quality of evidence, strength of the recommendation and specific implementation strategies for Methodist Health System for each recommendation were described. The literature search resulted in 295 articles that were included in the development of protocol recommendations. No disagreements remained once the authors reviewed the final GRADE assessment of the quality of evidence and strength of the recommendations. Ultimately, there were 39 protocol recommendations, with 16 appropriate preoperative protocol recommendations (out of 17 proposed), 9 appropriate intraoperative recommendations, and 14 appropriate postoperative recommendations. This novel set of evidence-based recommendations is designed to optimize the patient's ALIF experience from the preoperative to the postoperative period.

Perioperative Analgesia in Spine Surgery: A Review of Current Data Supporting Future Direction

This Clinical Research discusses the diverse nature of spine surgery procedures and the use of multimodal analgesia within enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols to improve patient outcomes. Spine surgeries range from minor decompressions to extensive tumor resections, performed by neurosurgeons or orthopedic spine surgeons on adults and children. To manage perioperative pain effectively, various methods have been employed, including multimodal analgesia within ERAS protocols. Incorporating ERAS protocols into spine surgery has shown benefits such as reduced pain scores, decreased opioid use, shorter hospital stays, and improved functionality. ERAS protocols help to enhance patient outcomes, focusing on deconstructing these protocols for surgeons and anesthesiologists.

Postoperative analgesia for complex spinal surgery

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Complex spinal surgery is associated with significant postoperative pain. The purpose of this paper is to review recent literature on postoperative pain management in adult and adolescent patients having complex spinal surgery.

RECENT FINDINGS

We conducted a literature search using the Medline database for relevant publications from 2020 to 2022 on postoperative pain after complex spinal surgery. Although opioids remain the mainstay to manage pain after complex spinal surgery, they are associated with adverse effects. Multimodal analgesia may be used to reduce these adverse effects by combining different drugs targeting different parts of the pain pathway. Recent publications suggest continuous low dose fentanyl or morphine infusion, methadone, intravenous paracetamol and ibuprofen, ketorolac, ketamine, magnesium infusion, lidocaine infusion and dexmedetomidine appear to be effective and safe to manage pain after complex spinal surgery. Regional techniques including bilateral erector spinae block, interfascial plane block and intrathecal morphine also appear to be effective and safe.

SUMMARY

Pain management after complex spinal surgery remains challenging. Therefore, further studies are still required to determine the optimal multimodal analgesic regimen for these patients.