Non-Opioid Pain Control Strategies Following Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) for Oropharyngeal Cancer (2022 AMW)
2022 AAO-HNSF Annual Meeting & OTO Experience
Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) is an established standard of care for the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer. While numerous publications confirm excellent oncologic and functional outcomes, the TORS literature continues to be sparce regarding optimal perioperative management, particularly regarding the management for the severe post-TORS acute pain. Common practices typically include opioid patient control anesthesia (PCA) machines transitioned to scheduled enteric narcotics. Unfortunately, opioid-heavy post-surgical pain control management suffers from poor efficacy and high side-effect profiles. Therefore, until peer-reviewed data can be established resulting in data-driven practices, clinical experience must be shared to improve the perioperative experience of this growing patient population. This panel, comprised of four leading academic TORS surgeons representing each of the four distinct national regions, will discuss their unique strategies and experience towards reduced-narcotic and narcotic-free pain control following oropharyngeal cancer resection. Specifically, amongst other strategies, the following pain control options will be discussed and debated: regional nerve blocks, use of NSAIDs, targeted steroid bursts, use of gabapentin, outpatient IV hydration, and proactive patient education.
Credits
CME:1.0, MOC:1.0