Caring for Our Patients With Opioid Use Disorder in the Perioperative Period: A Guide for the Anesthesiologist

Alcohol use disorder in the perioperative period: a summary and recommendations for anesthesiologists and pain physicians

Excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder (AUD) increase the risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality. Aspiration, malnutrition, coagulopathies, seizures, and hemodynamic alterations are only a few of the major concerns related to acute alcohol intoxication and AUD. There are also numerous physiological effects, changes in medication metabolism and pharmacology, and adverse events related to chronic alcohol consumption. These are all important considerations for the anesthesiologist in the perioperative management of a patient with AUD. Pain perception and thresholds are altered in patients with acute and chronic alcohol use. Medications used to manage AUD symptoms, particularly naltrexone, can have significant perioperative implications. Patients on naltrexone who continue or stop this medication in the perioperative period are at an increased risk for undertreated pain or substance use relapse. This review highlights key considerations for the anesthesiologist and pain physician in the perioperative management of patients with active AUD (or those in recovery). It discusses the effects of acute and chronic alcohol use on pain perception and thresholds, provides guidance on the perioperative management of naltrexone and low-dose naltrexone, and reviews a multimodal approach to pain management.

Substance-Use Disorders in Critically Ill Patients: A Narrative Review

Substance-use disorders (SUDs) represent a major public health concern. The increased prevalence of SUDs within the general population has led to more patients with SUD being admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) for an SUD-related condition or with SUD as a relevant comorbidity. Multiprofessional providers of critical care should be familiar with these disorders and their impact on critical illness. Management of critically ill patients with SUDs is complicated by both acute exposures leading to intoxication, the associated withdrawal syndrome(s), and the physiologic changes associated with chronic use that can cause, predispose patients to, and worsen the severity of other medical conditions. This article reviews the epidemiology of substance use in critically ill patients, discusses the identification and treatment of common intoxication and withdrawal syndromes, and provides evidence-based recommendations for the management of patients exposed to chronic use.

A retrospective analysis of perioperative medications for opioid-use disorder and tapering additional postsurgical opioids via a transitional pain service

AIMS

To investigate perioperative opioid requirements in patients on methadone or buprenorphine as medication for opioid-use disorder (MOUD) who attended a transitional pain clinic (Personalized Pain Program, PPP).

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study assessed adults on MOUD with surgery and attendance at the Johns Hopkins PPP between 2017 and 2022. Daily non-MOUD opioid use over 6 time-points was evaluated with regression models controlling for days since surgery. The time to complete non-MOUD opioid taper was analysed by accelerated failure time and Kaplan-Meier models.

RESULTS

Fifty patients (28 on methadone, 22 on buprenorphine) were included with a median age of 44.3 years, 54% male, 62% Caucasian and 54% unemployed. MOUD inpatient administration occurred in 92.8% of patients on preoperative methadone but only in 36.3% of patients on preoperative buprenorphine. Non-MOUD opioid use decreased over time postoperatively (β = -0.54, P < .001) with a median decrease of 90 mg morphine equivalents (MME) between the first and last PPP visit, resulting in 46% tapered off by PPP completion. Older age and duration in PPP were associated with lower MME, while mental health conditions, longer hospital stays and higher discharge opioid prescriptions were associated with higher MME. The average time to non-MOUD opioid taper was 1.79× longer in patients on buprenorphine (P = .026), 2.75× in males (P = .023), 4.66× with mental health conditions (P < .001), 2.37× with chronic pain (P = .031) and 3.51× if on preoperative non-MOUD opioids; however, higher initial MOUD level decreased time to taper (P = .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Postoperative opioid tapering utilizing a transitional pain service is possible in patients on MOUD.

Reconsidering the use of urine drug testing in reproductive settings

The urine drug test is ubiquitous within reproductive healthcare settings. Although the test can have evidence-based use for a patient and clinician, in practice, it is often applied in ways that are driven by bias and stigma, do not correctly inform decisions about clinical aspects of patient care, and cause devastating ripple effects through social and legal systems. This paper proposes a framework of guiding questions to prompt reflection on (1) the question the clinical team is trying to answer, (2) whether a urine drug test answers the question at hand, (3) how testing benefits compare with the associated risks, (4) a more effective tool for clinical decision-making if the urine drug test does not meet the standards for use, and (5) individual and institutional biases affecting decision-making. We demonstrate the use of this framework using 3 common uses of the urine drug test within abortion care and labor and delivery settings.