Opioid use after C-section reduced by nearly half with non-invasive pain management device, study finds

Based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, greater than 1 million individuals ship their infants by cesarean part (C-section) annually, making it the most typical surgical process in america. After discharge, sufferers are usually prescribed opioids for ache administration, however narcotics include concern over unwanted effects and the chance of habit.

In a current study printed in JAMA Community Open, a staff at The Ohio State College Wexner Medical Middle regarded right into a drug-free and non-invasive different to managing sufferers’ ache after C-section. The analysis staff studied using a tool that emits electrical pulses when held close to the C-section incision website, they usually discovered that sufferers who obtained the therapy used 47% much less opioids to regulate their ache in comparison with those that didn’t obtain the therapy.

“For a lot of sufferers, particularly as the consequences of their epidural are sporting off, they’ve a variety of ache on the skin or proper close to the incision within the first one to 2 days,” stated the examine’s lead investigator Jennifer Grasch, MD, a fellow in maternal fetal medication at Ohio State Wexner Medical Middle. “Our hope was that this gadget would assist tackle that ache. By higher controlling a affected person’s ache throughout these first two days, it could result in decrease irritation and fewer ache long-term as they’re recovering and caring for a brand new child.”

The excessive frequency neurostimulation gadget, known as TrueReliefÒ, has two chrome steel probes which can be held close to the C-section incision website. The affected person feels a vibration in the course of the therapy course of which lasts a complete of 12 minutes. The probes are moved above the incision each two minutes and stimulate the nerves.

The randomized clinical trial included a control group and an experimental group. Half of the sufferers obtained therapy with the neurostimulation gadget, and the opposite half obtained therapy with an equivalent sham gadget that emitted the identical vibration feeling. Investigators didn’t change what number of opioid drugs the sufferers’ medical doctors prescribed or what number of have been obtainable to the sufferers.

“Our examine means that including transcutaneous therapy with a high-frequency (20,000 Hz) electrical stimulation gadget decreases opioid use after C-section supply with out compromising ache management,” stated Grasch.

“Future research targeted on integrating the gadget into routine pain management care and in different settings and surgical procedures are wanted to verify the feasibility of utilizing the gadget in clinical practice,” stated principal investigator Kara Rood, MD, maternal fetal medication doctor at Ohio State Wexner Medical Middle and affiliate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State Faculty of Drugs.