Comparison Between Preoperative Methadone and Buprenorphine Use on Postoperative Opioid Requirement: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Objectives: Buprenorphine is a partial agonist at mu-opioid receptors and competes for these receptors with other opioids in vitro. Whether patients on buprenorphine maintenance require high doses of opioid analgesics to attain adequate postoperative pain control has not been determined. We evaluated differences in acute postoperative opioid consumption and pain burden between patients taking buprenorphine and those taking methadone preoperatively. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of medical records of 928 patients, of whom 195 were on buprenorphine and 733 were on methadone preoperatively, was performed. Among methadone and buprenorphine patients, 615 and 89, respectively, continued to receive the medications postoperatively. Buprenorphine patients were compared with methadone patients for the first 48 hours postoperatively with regard to acute opioid dose requirements (morphine milligram equivalents [MME] above their baseline buprenorphine and methadone doses) and time-weighted average (TWA) pain scores (using targeted maximum likelihood estimation). Results: Opioid dose requirements for 48 hours postoperatively were 150 (22 to 297) (median [interquartile range]) and 220 [90 to 360] MME for buprenorphine and methadone patients, respectively. Preoperative buprenorphine was associated with a 59.9% lower postoperative MME (95% confidence interval: 46.6%-69.8%, P50% reduction in postoperative opioid dose requirement and a statistically significant...
Source: The Clinical Journal of Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research