A study, presented at Anesthesiology 2017, examined opioid-free general anesthesia use for safety and efficacy.
Researchers studied 1,009 patients undergoing head and neck surgery that received general anesthesia without opioids. Physicians used a combination of magnesium, sub-anesthetic ketamine, lidocaine and ketorolac depending on a patient's age or health.
Here's what they found:
1. Both surgeons and patients were highly satisfied with the new anesthesia protocol and the resulting postoperative pain management.
2. Postoperatively, 11 percent of patients experienced nausea, compared to the 50 percent to 80 percent of patients that typically suffer from nausea post surgery.
3. After using the opioid-free anesthesia, 64 percent of patients did not require pain medication in the postanesthesia care unit.
Researchers plan to follow this study with research on whether avoiding opioids during surgery and reducing opioid prescriptions reduces opioid use and abuse.
Anesthesiology 2017 was Oct. 21 to Oct. 25 in Boston.