21 Aug Acupuncture and Electrotherapy Following Knee Replacement May Limit Opioid Use

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Hernandez-Boussard

Tina Hernandez-Boussard, PhD MPH, MS
Associate Professor of Medicine, Biomedical Data Science, and Surgery
Stanford School of Medicine
Stanford, CA 94305-5479

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Opioid addiction is a national crisis.  As surgery is thought to be a gateway to opioid misuse, opioid-sparing approaches for pain management following surgery are a top priority.

We conducted a meta-analysis of 39 randomized clinical trials of common non-pharmalogical interventions used for postoperative pain management.

We found that acupuncture and electrotherapy following total knee replacement reduced or delayed patients’ opioid use.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Response: As prescription opioid use is under national scrutiny, it is important to identify drug-free pain management therapies that may reduce opioid use and therefore help curb the national epidemic. Several non-pharmaceutical treatments and their association with postoperative pain were identified in the literature. However, in our meta-analysis we found that only acupuncture and electrotherapy following total knee replacement were associated with delayed or reduced opioid consumption.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Strong, unbiased evidence is needed to further support the results from this meta-analysis.  In particular, further evidence supporting the association between acupuncture and electrotherapy and reduced or delayed opioid consumption is critical to inform appropriate postoperative pain management. 

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:

Tedesco D, Gori D, Desai KR, Asch S, Carroll IR, Curtin C, McDonald KM, Fantini MP, Hernandez-Boussard T. Drug-Free Interventions to Reduce Pain or Opioid Consumption After Total Knee ArthroplastyA Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Surg. Published online August 16, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2017.2872

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