Regional anesthesia improves inpatient but not outpatient opioid demand in tibial shaft fracture surgery.

Abstract

Patients undergoing operative treatment of tibial shaft fractures have considerable pain largely managed with opioids. Regional anesthesia (RA) has been increasingly used to reduce perioperative opioid use. This was a retrospective study of 426 patients that underwent operative treatment of tibial shaft fractures with and without RA. Inpatient opioid consumption and 90-day outpatient opioid demand were measured. RA significantly decreased inpatient opioid consumption for 48 h post-operatively (p = 0.008). Neither inpatient use after 48 h nor outpatient opioid demand differed in patients with RA (p > 0.05). RA may help with inpatient pain control and reduce opioid use in tibial shaft fracture. Level III, retrospective, therapeutic cohort study.