Methamphetamine in Orthopaedics: Considerations of an At-Risk Population

Serum Methamphetamine Positivity in Trauma Patients Undergoing Surgery has No Negative Effect on Postoperative Morbidity and Mortality

Introduction

The link between methamphetamine (METH) use and mortality or morbidity, particularly perioperative complications, associated with trauma surgery are not well characterized. This study aims to address this by performing a comparison of surgical outcomes between METH-negative (METH-) and METH-positive (METH+) trauma patients.

Methods

An Institutional Review Board-approved retrospective chart review was performed on all trauma patients admitted to our Level 1 trauma center who underwent surgical operations between 2015 and 2020. Patients were categorized into METH- and METH+ groups. Patient characteristics such as age, sex, race, Injury Severity Score (ISS), presence of peri-operative complications, and mortality, amongst others, were used to perform univariate comparisons. Additional multi-variate comparisons were performed across both the whole cohort and with age, sex, and ISS-matched groups.

Results

Of 571 patients who met the final inclusion criteria, 421 were METH- and 150 METH+. The METH+ group also possessed a lower median ISS (P = 0.0478) and did not possess significantly different mortality or morbidity than their METH- counterparts in univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis in whole-group and matched-group cohorts indicated that METH was not a positive predictor of mortality or morbidity. Instead, ISS predicted mortality (P = 0.048) and morbidity (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that METH use does not exert a positive effect on mortality or morbidity in the acute trauma surgery setting and that ISS may be a more significant contributor, suggesting severity, and etiology of injury are also important considerations for trauma surgery evaluation.

Illicit Drug Use and Endoscopy: When Do We Say No?

BACKGROUND

Illicit drug use (IDU) is often encountered in patients undergoing elective ambulatory surgical procedures such as endoscopy. Given the variety of systemic effects of these drugs, sedation and anesthetics are believed to increase the risk of cardiopulmonary complications during procedures. Procedural cancelations are common, regardless of the drug type, recency of use, and total dosage consumed. There is a lack of institutional and society recommendations regarding the optimal approach to performing outpatient endoscopy on patients with IDU.

AIM

To review the literature for current recommendations regarding the optimal management of outpatient elective endoscopic procedures in patients with IDU. Secondary aim is to provide guidance for clinicians who encounter IDU in endoscopic practice.

METHODS

Systematic review of PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Google Scholar for articles presenting data on outcomes of elective procedures in patients using illicit drugs.

RESULTS

There are no clinically relevant differences in periprocedural complications or mortality in cannabis users compared to non-users. Endoscopy in patients with remote cocaine use was also found to have similar outcomes to recent use.

CONCLUSIONS

Canceling endoscopic procedures in patients with recent IDU without consideration of the type of drug, dosage, and chronicity may lead to unnecessary delays in care and increased patient morbidity. Healthcare systems would benefit from additional guidelines for evaluating the patient with recent illicit drug use for acute intoxication and consider proceeding with procedures in the non-toxic population.