Postoperative Opioid Pain Medication Usage Following Adult Tonsillectomy

CONCLUSION: Short-term, high-quantity opioid treatment of post-tonsillectomy pain in active duty adults does not result in long-term opioid misuse, as measured by substance abuse treatment program referrals within a year after surgery. This finding supports the appropriateness of adequate short-term narcotic medication treatment. The long-term readiness of these patients appears unaffected by long-term opioid misuse or abuse. Even with this finding, there is an institutional shift to multi-modality pain management and appropriate opioid reduction to further mitigate the risk of opioid misuse. Extrapolation of these findings to all adult tonsillectomy patients should be done with caution, as there are several protective factors in the active duty population such as stable full-time employment with mandatory random drug screening.PMID:33825889 | DOI:10.1093/milmed/usab127
Source: Military Medicine - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research