Postoperative Narcotic Use After Laparoscopic Gynecologic Surgery

University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

Overview

This will be a prospective, randomized, double blinded placebo-controlled study at Erlanger hospital. Eligible patients who provide consent will be randomized into one of two arms receiving continuous intra-peritoneal local anesthetic with 0.2% Ropivacaine or saline. After inclusion criteria are met and consents are obtained all patients will be sent home with a pain measurement, a pill diary to record the quantity of narcotic tablets taken, and a questionnaire nausea and vomiting symptoms. After placement of the ON-Q pain pump the select-a-flow rate will be set to 6 mL/hr for all study participants. . All study participants will be provided with rescue pain medications as needed. If possible non-narcotic medications such as Tylenol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory's will be utilized first. If pain persists narcotic medications will be provided. Oxycodone 5 mg will be utilized unless a patient reported allergy exists. All rescue narcotics utilized will be converted into morphine equivalents and documented. All patients will be discharged with Oxycodone 5 mg with 35 tablets which provides pain coverage for 7 days after surgery. In addition to Oxycodone all patients will be discharged with Sprix, a nasal non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, as well as Zofran and movantik, a medication for narcotic induced constipation. All patients will be instructed to administer Sprix by placing one puff into each nostril every 6 hours for a total of 5 days after surgery. They will further be instructed to take oral Tylenol 1000 mg every 6 hours for a total of 4 days after surgery. Assigned research personnel will contact all patients to obtain the results of their survey and pill dairy at 48 hours and one week after surgery. Patients will then present for a two-week post-operative visit where study personnel will complete data collection. All study participants who request a narcotic refill within 6 weeks of surgery will be documented.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Conditions

Pelvic Pain Endometriosis Pelvic Prolapse

Interventions

RopivacaineDRUG

0.2 % Ropivacaine will be continuously administered intraperitoneally at a rate of 6 mL/hr

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 65 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: 1. All patients undergoing laparoscopic gynecologic surgery with either the traditional "straight stick" or robotic assisted techniques will be considered for eligibility. Eligible patients will include those with pelvic pain and endometriosis as well as those who present for pelvic floor reconstruction. Surgical procedures performed will include excision of endometriosis, lysis of adhesions, hysterectomy, bilateral or unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, cystectomy, and pelvic reconstruction. 2. Patients who are 18 years or older 3. Patients who provide written surgical consent 4. Patients who are capable and willing to follow up with surveys and complete pain and pill diaries Exclusion Criteria: 1. Patients who are unable or willing to provide consent and complete the follow up surveys and dairies 2. Patients who are allergic to Ropivacaine 3. Patients whose minimally invasive procedures were converted to laparotomies

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Amount of rescue narcotics consumed in the postoperative period, calculated as morphine equivalents.

All rescue oral narcotics taken in the post-operative period will be converted to morphine equivalents and recorded

Time frame: 6 weeks after surgery

Secondary Outcomes

post-operative pain scores

Pain scores will be obtained via the visual analog scale (VAS). The VAS tool measures pain on a scale from 0 to 10 with 0 being no pain and 10 being unbearable pain.

Time frame: 1,2, 4, and 48 hours after surgery. 1 and 2 weeks after surgery

nausea and vomiting

The postoperative nausea and vomiting impact scale will be used to measure the presence and amount of nausea and vomiting. The scale measures the amount of vomiting from 0 ( no vomiting) to 3 ( three or more episodes of vomiting). The second questions measures the presence of nausea and then the amount from o ( no nausea) to 3 ( all of the time).

Time frame: 48 hours, 1 week, and 2 weeks after surgery

Hospital discharge

Time to discharge

Time frame: post-operative day zero to two

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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