Wound infiltration with ropivacaine as an adjuvant to patient controlled analgesia for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion: a retrospective study.
BACKGROUND
Surgical procedure usually causes serious postoperative pain and poor postoperative pain management negatively affects quality of life, function and recovery time. We aimed to investigate the role of wound infiltration with ropivacaine as an adjuvant to patient controlled analgesia (PCA) in postoperative pain control for patients undergoing transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.


METHODS
One hundred twelve patients undergoing lumbar fusion were retrospectively reviewed and divided into two groups (ropivacaine and control groups) according to whether received wound infiltration with ropivacaine or not. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, analgesics consumption, number of patients requiring rescue analgesic, hospital duration and incidence of complications were recorded. Surgical trauma was assessed using operation time, intraoperative blood loss and incision length.


RESULTS
The amount of sufentanil consumption in ropivacaine group at 4 h postoperatively was lower than that of control group (24.5 ± 6.0 μg vs 32.1 ± 7.0 μg, P < 0.001) and similar results were observed at 8, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h postoperatively(P < 0.001). Fewer patients required rescue analgesia within 4 to 8 h postoperatively in ropivacaine group (10/60 vs 19/52, P = 0.017). Length of postoperative hospital durations were shorter in patients receiving ropivacaine infiltration compared to control cohorts (6.9 ± 0.9 days vs 7.4 ± 0.9 days, P = 0.015). The incidence of PONV in ropivacaine group was lower than that in control group (40.4% vs 18.3%, P = 0.01). However, VAS scores were similar in two groups at each follow-up points postoperatively, and no difference was observed(P > 0.05).


CONCLUSION
Wound infiltration with ropivacaine effectively reduces postoperative opioid consumption and PONV and may be a useful adjuvant to PCA to improve recovery for patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery.
['Li|Kunpeng|K|', 'Ji|Changbin|C|', 'Luo|Dawei|D|', 'Feng|Hongyong|H|', 'Yang|Keshi|K|', 'Xu|Hui|H|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled D000779:Anesthetics, Local D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010149:Pain, Postoperative D012189:Retrospective Studies D000077212:Ropivacaine D013123:Spinal Fusion
Wound infiltration Ropivacaine Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion Pain management PCA