Newswise — Researchers at Stanford University are trying to do a better job of predicting who will have severe postoperative pain in order to better support these patients. Their analysis of more than 1,000 spine surgery patients identified 8 key factors that predict postoperative pain in the first 24 hours. One of the factors was the use of nonopioid analgesics during the interoperative period. Although it is known that the use of one class of nonopioid analgesic medications in the interoperative period is associated with reduced postoperative pain, their analysis showed that the interoperative use of two or more different classes of nonopioid analgesic medications was associated with a much larger and clinically significant reduction in postoperative pain regardless of the classes of nonopioid analgesics used.

Not only does the study identify a modifiable way to help patients in the perioperative period, but it also provides evidence to support the use of machine-learning algorithms to build predictive models of pain to better support patients in the postoperative period.

Dr. Quentin Baca and fellow investigators were awarded a Resident/Fellow Travel Award from the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine for the abstract “Predictors of Postoperative Pain in 1,008 Spine Surgery Patients.” Dr. Baca will present the abstract on April 21 at the 2018 World Congress on Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. Drs. Florian Marti, Brice Gaudilliere, Nima Aghaeepour, and Martin Angst are coauthors on the abstract.

The 2018 World Congress on Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine will be held April 19-21 at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. The meeting brings together five intercontinental regional anesthesia and pain medicine societies every four years. This is the first time the meeting will be held in the United States, with nearly 3,000 expected to attend.

 

 

 

Meeting Link: 2018 World Congress on Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine