Surgery and opioids: evidence-based expert consensus guidelines on the perioperative use of opioids in the United Kingdom.

There are significant concerns regarding prescription and misuse of prescription opioids in the perioperative period. The Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists have produced this evidence-based expert consensus guideline on surgery and opioids along with the Royal College of Surgery, Royal College of Psychiatry, Royal College of Nursing, and the British Pain Society. This expert consensus practice advisory reproduces the Faculty of Pain Medicine guidance. Perioperative stewardship of opioids starts with judicious opioid prescribing in primary and secondary care. Before surgery, it is important to assess risk factors for continued opioid use after surgery and identify those with chronic pain before surgery, some of whom may be taking opioids. A multidisciplinary perioperative care plan that includes a prehabilitation strategy and intraoperative and postoperative care needs to be formulated. This may need the input of a pain specialist. Emphasis is placed on optimum management of pain pre-, intra-, and postoperatively. The use of immediate-release opioids is preferred in the immediate postoperative period. Attention to ensuring a smooth care transition and communication from secondary to primary care for those taking opioids is highlighted. For opioid-naive patients (patients not taking opioids before surgery), no more than 7 days of opioid prescription is recommended. Persistent use of opioid needs a medical evaluation and exclusion of chronic post-surgical pain. The lack of grading of the evidence of each individual recommendation remains a major weakness of this guidance; however, evidence supporting each recommendation has been rigorously reviewed by experts in perioperative pain management.

Microdeletion in a FAAH pseudogene identified in a patient with high anandamide concentrations and pain insensitivity.

The study of rare families with inherited pain insensitivity can identify new human-validated analgesic drug targets. Here, a 66-yr-old female presented with nil requirement for postoperative analgesia after a normally painful orthopaedic hand surgery (trapeziectomy). Further investigations revealed a lifelong history of painless injuries, such as frequent cuts and burns, which were observed to heal quickly. We report the causative mutations for this new pain insensitivity disorder: the co-inheritance of (i) a microdeletion in dorsal root ganglia and brain-expressed pseudogene, FAAH-OUT, which we cloned from the fatty-acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) chromosomal region; and (ii) a common functional single-nucleotide polymorphism in FAAH conferring reduced expression and activity. Circulating concentrations of anandamide and related fatty-acid amides (palmitoylethanolamide and oleoylethanolamine) that are all normally degraded by FAAH were significantly elevated in peripheral blood compared with normal control carriers of the hypomorphic single-nucleotide polymorphism. The genetic findings and elevated circulating fatty-acid amides are consistent with a phenotype resulting from enhanced endocannabinoid signalling and a loss of function of FAAH. Our results highlight previously unknown complexity at the FAAH genomic locus involving the expression of FAAH-OUT, a novel pseudogene and long non-coding RNA. These data suggest new routes to develop FAAH-based analgesia by targeting of FAAH-OUT, which could significantly improve the treatment of postoperative pain and potentially chronic pain and anxiety disorders.

Efficacy of sacral neuromodulation in treating chronic pain related to painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis in adults.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this review is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sacral neuromodulation in treating chronic pelvic pain related to Painful bladder syndrome/Interstitial-cystitis. DESIGN: The databases searched were MEDLINE and EMBASE [1950- Nov 2011]. Additional searches were performed on the Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews (CDSR), Scopus, CINAHL, BIOSIS, The Cochrane controlled trials register, the science citation index, TRIP DATABASE. RESULTS: Overall 70.8% or 170/244 patients were successful at the trial stage. The only randomized controlled trial reported a decrease in Visual analogue pain scores of 49% (7.9 to 4.0) for sacral nerve stimulation [SNS] and 29%(4.5 to 3.2) for pudendal nerve stimulation [PNS] at 6 months follow up. Nine observational studies reported a decrease in pain scores/decrease in pain medications at long term follow up following permanent sacral neuromodulation. One study showed an 80% improvement in Global response assessment score. CONCLUSION: The results from the randomised controlled trial and case series/case reports demonstrate a reduction of pain symptoms of Painful bladder syndrome following sacral neuromodulation.

A survey on the use of intravenous lidocaine infusion for acute pain in Scottish Hospitals.

INTRODUCTION: Intravenous (IV) lidocaine infusions are increasingly used in the management of acute pain. They are particularly used in patients undergoing colorectal surgery, where they are also found to decrease rates of postoperative ileus. IV lidocaine has significant toxicity in overdose. There are no current national guidelines or standards on the provision of IV lidocaine infusions. We aimed to get a snapshot of current usage and usage practices in Scottish NHS Hospitals, to identify common themes and variations in practice. METHODS: A survey designed by the authors was emailed to 20 Scottish NHS Hospitals with an acute pain team. These were then followed up by telephone, if necessary. RESULTS: Of the 20 hospitals, 16 (80%) responded; 12 out of 16 (75%) of the responding hospitals either used IV lidocaine infusions for acute pain or were planning to use them in the near future. There was variability in practices regarding delivery device, prescriber grade, bolus dosing, length of infusion, location of infusion and use with other local anaesthetic (LA) infusions. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of Scottish NHS Hospitals use IV lidocaine infusions in the management of acute pain. There are some variations in current practice; standardising practices may decrease the risk of LA toxicity. A national guideline is recommended.

Using the Model for Improvement to implement the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool in an adult intensive care unit.

Managing pain is challenging in the intensive care unit (ICU) as often patients are unable to self-report due to the effects of sedation required for mechanical ventilation. Minimal sedative use and the utilisation of analgesia-first approaches are advocated as best practice to reduce unwanted effects of oversedation and poorly managed pain. Despite evidence-based recommendations, behavioural pain assessment tools are not readily implemented in many critical care units. A local telephone audit conducted in April 2017 found that only 30% of Scottish ICUs are using these validated pain instruments. The intensive care unit (ICU) at Raigmore Hospital, NHS Highland, initiated a quality improvement (QI) project using the Model for Improvement (MFI) to implement an analgesia-first approach utilising a validated and reliable behavioural pain assessment tool, namely the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT). Over a six-month period, the project deployed QI tools and techniques to test and implement the CPOT. The process measures related to (i) the nursing staff's reliability to assess and document pain scores at least every four hours and (ii) to treat behavioural signs of pain or CPOT scores ≥ 3 with a rescue bolus of opioid analgesia. The findings from this project confirm that the observed trends in both process measures had reduced over time. Four hourly assessments of pain had increased to 89% and the treatment of CPOT scores ≥3 had increased to 100%.

Chronic post-amputation pain: peri-operative management - Review.

STUDY DESIGN: Narrative review. METHOD: Eight bibliographic databases were searched for studies published in the (last five years up until Feb 2017). For the two database searches (Cochrane and DARE), the time frame was unlimited. The review involved keyword searches of the term 'Amputation' AND 'chronic pain'. Studies selected were interrogated for any association between peri-operative factors and the occurrence of chronic post amputation pain (CPAP). RESULTS: Heterogeneity of study populations and outcome measures prevented a systematic review and hence a narrative synthesis of results was undertaken. The presence of variation in two gene alleles (GCH1 and KCNS1) may be relevant for development of CPAP. There was little evidence to draw conclusions on the association between age, gender and CPAP. Pre-operative anxiety and depression influenced pain intensity post operatively and long-term post amputation pain (CPAP). The presence of pre-amputation pain is correlated to the development of acute and chronic post amputation pain while evidence for the association of post-operative pain with CPAP is modest. Regional anaesthesia and peri-neural catheters improve acute postoperative pain relief but evidence on their efficacy to prevent CPAP is limited. A suggested whole system pathway based on current evidence to optimize peri-operative amputation pain is described. CONCLUSION: The current evidence suggests that optimized peri-operative analgesia reduces the incidence of acute peri-operative pain but no firm conclusion can be drawn on reducing risk for CPAP.