The Use of Long Acting Opioids to Prevent Rebound Pain Following Peripheral Nerve Blocks for Outpatient Foot and Ankle Surgery

CATEGORY: Ankle; Bunion INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Peripheral nerve blocks have become an integral part of orthopedic surgery to assist with postoperative pain. However, 40% of patients who undergo a peripheral nerve block will experience rebound pain, which in turn, long-acting narcotics may be able to block. Unfortunately, this rebound pain can cancel out the potential benefits of decreased opioid medication use. Therefore, this study seeks to compare the difference in patient reported pain scores in those patients whom received long-acting opioid pain medication and those who did not. METHODS: This is a retrospective review of patient-reported pain scores for 96 patients who underwent a peripheral nerve block for outpatient foot and ankle surgery. 48 patients either received three days of long-acting opioids or did not. Each patient was asked to fill out and return a pain diary as well as fill out a pain catastrophizing survey (PCS) at their postoperative appointment. The pain diary discussed their Visual Analogue Scale pain scores, amount of pain medication, and time they took the medicine. This data was then collected and compared via paired student t-tests for evaluation of significance. RESULTS: Pain diaries were completed by 69 patients (72%). There were no significant differences between those comorbidities, types of procedures, age, or BMI between the groups. Mean postoperative pain scores did not differ between patients that did and did not receive postoperative extended release opioid medications (p = 0.226). Mean opioid consumption did not differ between groups (p = 0.945). There were no correlations between daily reported pain scores or the postoperative day with the highest pain score for those who received long acting opioid pain medication versus those who did not (r=0.336, p=0.550). CONCLUSION: Rebound pain is a difficult potential side effect of peripheral nerve blocks that currently does not have a preventative measure. This study was an attempted effort to help eliminate rebound pain, but there did not appear to be a significant benefit to adding long-acting opioid pain medication in addition to the peripheral nerve block and short-acting pain medication