When is spinal pain "neuropathic"?

Rapid Recovery Pathway for Postoperative Treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

INTRODUCTION

Postoperative pain protocols play a critical role in recovery and prognosis. Rapid recovery pathway (RRP) is a novel multimodal postoperative analgesic platform with accelerated rehabilitation.

METHODS

A retrospective review of 44 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis who underwent posterior spinal fusion between 2014 and 2016 was conducted. Outcomes of a conventional postoperative pain pathway were compared with patients who received RRP postoperatively.

RESULTS

RRP patients had shorter length of stay (3.3 vs 4.4 days, P < 0.0001), duration with Foley (1.4 vs 2.3 days, P = 0.01), and fewer days for physical therapy clearance (2.2 vs 3.5 days, P < 0.0001). Overall pain score for RRP patients was lower (1.6 vs 2.9, P = 0.0005). The number of days with patient-controlled analgesia was shorter (1.7 vs 2.6 days, P = 0.002), and daily pain scores were consistently lower in RRP. Overall narcotic use was not significantly different (P = 1).

CONCLUSION

Implementation of a standardized RRP with multimodal pain management and early mobilization strategies resulted in reduced daily and overall pain scores, earlier clearance by physical therapy, decreased length of stay, and patient-controlled analgesia usage, but overall no difference in narcotic consumption.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level III, Retrospective Cohort Study.

Effect of parecoxib on postoperative pain after lumbar spine surgery: a bicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial

STUDY DESIGN

A bicenter randomized, patients, healthcare providers, and data collectors blind placebo-controlled trial in multimodal analgesia for postoperative lumbar spine surgery was conducted.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the efficacy and safety of parecoxib on postoperative pain management after posterior lumbar spine surgery.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA

Systematic reviews suggest that cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors are an effective treatment for acute postoperative pain. However, previous trials on lumbar spine surgery showed equivocal efficacy of cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors for postoperative pain relief.

METHODS

In this study, 120 patients undergoing posterior lumbar discectomy, spinal decompression, or spinal fusion were stratified based on the surgical procedure to 3 groups (n = 40) and randomly allocated to receive multidoses of parecoxib 40 mg/dose or placebo. Efficacy was assessed by total morphine used from patient-controlled analgesic pump, pain intensity, pain relief, and the patient's subjective rating of the medication.

RESULTS

Parecoxib 40 mg reduced the total amount of morphine required over 48 hours by 39% relative morphine reduction compared with placebo (P = 0.0001). Pain at rest was reduced by 30% (P = 0.0001). Ninety percent of patients given parecoxib experienced at least 50% maximum total pain relief compared with 58% treated with placebo. The number-needed-to-treat for 1 patient to have at least half pain relief was 3.1 (2.0-4.6). Patients' subjective rating of the medication was described as "excellent, good, and fair" by 48%, 43%, and 8% in the parecoxib group, respectively, compared with 21%, 50%, and 28% of placebo patients (P = 0.004). Overall adverse effects of patients receiving parecoxib and morphine were comparable to those receiving morphine alone.

CONCLUSION

The present study demonstrates that the perioperative administration of parecoxib with patient-controlled analgesic morphine after lumber spine surgery resulted in significantly improved postoperative analgesic management as defined by reduction in opioid requirement, lower pain scores, and higher patients' subjective rating of the medication.

Evidence-informed management of chronic low back pain with adjunctive analgesics

The management of chronic low back pain (CLBP) has proven very challenging in North America, as evidenced by its mounting socioeconomic burden. Choosing among available nonsurgical therapies can be overwhelming for many stakeholders, including patients, health providers, policy makers, and third-party payers. Although all parties share a common goal and wish to use limited health-care resources to support interventions most likely to result in clinically meaningful improvements, there is often uncertainty about the most appropriate intervention for a particular patient. To help understand and evaluate the various commonly used nonsurgical approaches to CLBP, the North American Spine Society has sponsored this special focus issue of The Spine Journal, titled Evidence-Informed Management of Chronic Low Back Pain Without Surgery. Articles in this special focus issue were contributed by leading spine practitioners and researchers, who were invited to summarize the best available evidence for a particular intervention and encouraged to make this information accessible to nonexperts. Each of the articles contains five sections (description, theory, evidence of efficacy, harms, and summary) with common subheadings to facilitate comparison across the 24 different interventions profiled in this special focus issue, blending narrative and systematic review methodology as deemed appropriate by the authors. It is hoped that articles in this special focus issue will be informative and aid in decision making for the many stakeholders evaluating nonsurgical interventions for CLBP.