Introduction:

Posterior lumbar fusion surgery has become more common amid an aging population, with degenerative disease as its most common indication. Historically, postoperative pain control for spine surgery has relied on opioids. However, opioid use is associated with adverse effects such as dependence, respiratory depression, and altered cognition. Our study aimed to determine whether an opioid-sparing multimodal analgesia regimen (ketorolac, orphenadrine, and gabapentin) could be a viable alternative to diminish opioid use compared with a standard opioid-based regimen in Hispanic patients undergoing posterior lumbar spinal fusion.

Methods:

This was a randomized controlled trial of Hispanic patients scheduled to undergo elective posterior spinal fusion. Inclusion criteria included age 30 to 85 years, Hispanic ethnicity, lumbar stenosis between L1 and S1, elective posterior spinal fusion with instrumentation, American Society of Anesthesiologists Score <2, and consent to participate in the study. Patients were randomized into two groups, an experimental multimodal analgesia and control (opioid-based) treatment groups, and outcomes such as morphine milligram equivalents used, visual analog scale score, and length of hospital stay were compared between the groups.

Results:

The MMA experimental group used significantly lower amounts of opioid (measured with morphine milligram equivalent) than the opioid-based group during the 12-hour and 24-hour postoperative periods (P-value = 0.023 and P-value = 0.033, respectively). No statistically significant difference was observed in opioid use in the 48-hour postoperative period between both groups (P-value = 0.066). The MMA group had significantly lower VAS scores reported at the 12-hour, 24-hour, and 48-hour postoperative periods compared with the opioid-based group (P-values = 0.016, 0.020, and 0.020, respectively). No difference was observed in the length of hospital stay between groups (P-value = 0.169).

Discussion:

Implementing an MMA protocol in Hispanic patients undergoing posterior lumbar fusion resulted in decreased overall opioid use and decreased pain intensity compared with the opioid-based group. MMA is an effective alternative for pain control in patients who want to avoid opioid use.

Clinical trial registration:

Identifier: NCT05413902.