Patient Perception of Postoperative Pain After Administration of Liposomal Bupivacaine in Plastic Surgery

Safe anesthesia for office-based plastic surgery: Proceedings from the PRS Korea 2018 meeting in Seoul, Korea

There has been an exponential increase in plastic surgery cases over the last 20 years, surging from 2.8 million to 17.5 million cases per year. Seventy-two percent of these cases are being performed in the office-based or ambulatory setting. There are certain advantages to performing aesthetic procedures in the office, but several widely publicized fatalities and malpractice claims has put the spotlight on patient safety and the lack of uniform regulation of office-based practices. While 33 states currently have legislation for office-based surgery and anesthesia, 17 states have no mandate to report patient deaths or adverse outcomes. The literature on office-base surgery and anesthesia has demonstrated significant improvements in patient safety over the last 20 years. In the following review of the proceedings from the PRS Korea 2018 meeting, we discuss several key concepts regarding safe anesthesia for officebased cosmetic surgery. These include the safe delivery of oxygen, appropriate local anesthetic usage and the avoidance of local anesthetic toxicity, the implementation of Enhanced Recovery after Surgery protocols, multimodal analgesic techniques with less reliance on narcotic pain medications, the use of surgical safety checklists, and incorporating “the patient” into the surgical decision-making process through decision aids.

Multimodal Analgesia in Breast Surgical Procedures: Technical and Pharmacological Considerations for Liposomal Bupivacaine Use

Enhanced recovery after surgery is a multidisciplinary perioperative clinical pathway that uses evidence-based interventions to improve the patient experience as well as increase satisfaction, reduce costs, mitigate the surgical stress response, accelerate functional recovery, and decrease perioperative complications. One of the most important elements of enhanced recovery pathways is multimodal pain management. Herein, aspects relating to multimodal analgesia following breast surgical procedures are discussed with the understanding that treatment decisions should be individualized and guided by sound clinical judgment. A review of liposomal bupivacaine, a prolonged-release formulation of bupivacaine, in the management of postoperative pain following breast surgical procedures is presented, and technical guidance regarding optimal administration of liposomal bupivacaine is provided.

Systematic Review of Liposomal Bupivacaine (Exparel) for Postoperative Analgesia

BACKGROUND

Management of postoperative pain often requires multimodal approaches. Suboptimal dosages of current therapies can leave patients experiencing periods of insufficient analgesia, often requiring rescue therapy. With absence of a validated and standardized approach to pain management, further refinement of treatment protocols and targeted therapeutics is needed. Liposomal bupivacaine (Exparel) is a longer acting form of traditional bupivacaine that delivers the drug by means of a multivesicular liposomal system. The effectiveness of liposomal bupivacaine has not been systematically analyzed relative to conventional treatments in plastic surgery.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search of the MEDLINE, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases was conducted for studies published through October of 2015 with search terms related to liposomal bupivacaine and filtered for relevance to postoperative pain control in plastic surgery. Data on techniques, outcomes, complications, and patient satisfaction were collected.

RESULTS

A total of eight articles were selected and reviewed from 160 identified. Articles covered a variety of techniques using liposomal bupivacaine for postoperative pain management. Four hundred five patients underwent procedures (including breast reconstruction, augmentation mammaplasty, abdominal wall reconstruction, mastectomy, and abdominoplasty) where pain was managed with liposomal bupivacaine and compared with those receiving traditional pain management. Liposomal bupivacaine use showed adequate safety and tolerability and, compared to traditional protocols, was equivalent or more effective in postoperative pain management.

CONCLUSION

Liposomal bupivacaine is a safe method for postoperative pain control in the setting of plastic surgery and may represent an alternative to more invasive pain management systems such as patient-controlled analgesia, epidurals, peripheral nerve catheters, or intravenous narcotics.