Preoperative Oral Methadone for Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: Reduction of Postoperative Pain

Summary

Oral medications like gabapentin and acetaminophen are commonly given to patients prior to surgery to provide balanced anaesthesia. Intravenous methadone has been shown to decrease postoperative pain as well as postoperative nausea and vomiting, which are known barriers to discharge. Oral methadone would be a convenient alternative to give as a preoperative medication with its bioavailability approaching 80%. No clinical trials to date have explored the utility of oral methadone as a preoperative analgesic to improve postoperative outcomes. Current literature shows preoperative IV methadone reduces opioid consumption in the perioperative period for cardiac surgeries; therefore, investigators hypothesize that preoperative oral methadone will also reduce postoperative pain and opioid consumption in patients undergoing sternotomy for cardiac surgery.

Timeline

Start

2016-04

Primary completion

2016-08

Completion

2017-12

Publications

• Bolton TM, Chomicki SO, McKay WP, Pikaluk DR, Betcher JG, Tsang JC. Preoperative oral methadone for postoperative pain in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled pilot. Can J Pain. 2019 Apr 9;3(1):49-57. doi: 10.1080/24740527.2019.1575695. eCollection 2019.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.