A Rapid Recovery Pathway for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis That Improves Pain Control and Reduces Time to Inpatient Recovery After Posterior Spinal Fusion.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective comparative cohort.

OBJECTIVES: To determine if a standardized multimodal analgesic and rehabilitation protocol (rapid recovery pathway [RRP]) in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients undergoing posterior spinal fusion (PSF) could improve pain control, reduce opioid-related complications, and expedite early mobilization.

BACKGROUND: Several reports have described postoperative recovery pathways for AIS patients undergoing PSF that shorten length of stay (LOS) without reporting the impact such pathways might have on patients' pain or quality of recovery.

METHODS: We compared two high-volume surgeons' patients managed on our conventional pathway (CP) or our RRP. The CP analgesia consisted of intraoperative methadone and postoperative patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) until tolerating oral analgesics, with adjunctive diazepam. Analgesia on the RRP includes intraoperative methadone and postoperative PCA; patients also receive preoperative gabapentin and acetaminophen, intraoperative intravenous acetaminophen, and postoperative diazepam, gabapentin, acetaminophen, and ketorolac. Ambulation and full diet are permitted beginning postoperative day 1. The primary outcome was mean daily pain scores. Secondary outcomes were LOS, time to pathway milestone completions, and frequency of opioid-related side effects requiring treatment.

RESULTS: There were 58 patients in the RRP group and 80 patients in the CP group. Patients on RRP had improved mean daily pain scores on postoperative days 0 (p = .027), 1 (p < .001) and 2 (p = .004). RRP patients were discharged home 31% earlier, discontinued from PCA 34% earlier and had their urinary catheters removed 26% earlier. Total opioid consumption decreased on postoperative day 0 (p < .001), but not postoperative day 1 (p = .773) or 2 (p = .343). Fewer patients on the RRP required medication for opioid-induced pruritus (p = .001), but there was no difference in the frequency of odansetron administration (p = .566). There were no differences in 30-day rates of readmission (p = .407).

CONCLUSION: Implementation of standardized RRP resulted in reduced pain, faster mobilization, reduced frequency of opioid-related side-effects, and earlier discharge.