Perioperative Rectal Methadone in Spine Surgery

Summary

Patients undergoing spinal surgery require pain control medication after their surgery. Investigators have successfully used intravenous Methadone to manage pain after surgery. However, doctors in Canada do not have the intravenous form of Methadone to prescribe to their patients. The investigators in Canada propose a pilot trial to investigate whether Methadone administered rectally could be used to manage pain after spinal surgery. The main questions are: 1. Are investigators able to recruit participants for this trial and learn from this study to plan a larger trial? 2. Does Methadone administered rectally during surgery, reduce participants' pain intensity, use less pain medication, and have a better recovery after surgery? Investigators will compare Methadone to a placebo (a look-alike substance that contains no drug) to see if Methadone works to manage pain after surgery better than the usual pain management. Participants will: * receive either Methadone or placebo during surgery. * be asked some questions about their pain during days 1 to 3 after surgery * be contacted by phone to ask about their recovery At this time, the study aims to recruit 40 participants from St. Michael's Hospital, to learn whether it will be feasible to plan a larger study.

Timeline

Start

2025-02-19

Primary completion

2026-07

Completion

2026-08

Publications

• Background Dale O, Sheffels P, Kharasch ED. Bioavailabilities of rectal and oral methadone in healthy subjects. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2004 Aug;58(2):156-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2004.02116.x.
• Background Murphy GS, Szokol JW, Avram MJ, Greenberg SB, Shear TD, Deshur MA, Vender JS, Benson J, Newmark RL. Clinical Effectiveness and Safety of Intraoperative Methadone in Patients Undergoing Posterior Spinal Fusion Surgery: A Randomized, Double-blinded, Controlled Trial. Anesthesiology. 2017 May;126(5):822-833. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000001609.
• Background Machado FC, Vieira JE, de Orange FA, Ashmawi HA. Intraoperative Methadone Reduces Pain and Opioid Consumption in Acute Postoperative Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Anesth Analg. 2019 Dec;129(6):1723-1732. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000004404.
• Background Murphy GS, Avram MJ, Greenberg SB, Shear TD, Deshur MA, Dickerson D, Bilimoria S, Benson J, Maher CE, Trenk GJ, Teister KJ, Szokol JW. Postoperative Pain and Analgesic Requirements in the First Year after Intraoperative Methadone for Complex Spine and Cardiac Surgery. Anesthesiology. 2020 Feb;132(2):330-342. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000003025.
• Background Machado FC, Palmeira CCA, Torres JNL, Vieira JE, Ashmawi HA. Intraoperative use of methadone improves control of postoperative pain in morbidly obese patients: a randomized controlled study. J Pain Res. 2018 Oct 2;11:2123-2129. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S172235. eCollection 2018.
• Background Gottschalk A, Durieux ME, Nemergut EC. Intraoperative methadone improves postoperative pain control in patients undergoing complex spine surgery. Anesth Analg. 2011 Jan;112(1):218-23. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e3181d8a095. Epub 2010 Apr 24.
• Background Elliott K, Kest B, Man A, Kao B, Inturrisi CE. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, mu and kappa opioid tolerance, and perspectives on new analgesic drug development. Neuropsychopharmacology. 1995 Dec;13(4):347-56. doi: 10.1016/0893-133X(95)00083-P.
• Background Benyamin R, Trescot AM, Datta S, Buenaventura R, Adlaka R, Sehgal N, Glaser SE, Vallejo R. Opioid complications and side effects. Pain Physician. 2008 Mar;11(2 Suppl):S105-20.
• Background American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Acute Pain Management. Practice guidelines for acute pain management in the perioperative setting: an updated report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Acute Pain Management. Anesthesiology. 2012 Feb;116(2):248-73. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e31823c1030. No abstract available.
• Background Weir S, Samnaliev M, Kuo TC, Ni Choitir C, Tierney TS, Cumming D, Bruce J, Manca A, Taylor RS, Eldabe S. The incidence and healthcare costs of persistent postoperative pain following lumbar spine surgery in the UK: a cohort study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). BMJ Open. 2017 Sep 11;7(9):e017585. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017585.
• Background Gerbershagen HJ, Aduckathil S, van Wijck AJ, Peelen LM, Kalkman CJ, Meissner W. Pain intensity on the first day after surgery: a prospective cohort study comparing 179 surgical procedures. Anesthesiology. 2013 Apr;118(4):934-44. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e31828866b3.
• Background Gan TJ. Poorly controlled postoperative pain: prevalence, consequences, and prevention. J Pain Res. 2017 Sep 25;10:2287-2298. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S144066. eCollection 2017.
• Background Puvanesarajah V, Liauw JA, Lo SF, Lina IA, Witham TF, Gottschalk A. Analgesic therapy for major spine surgery. Neurosurg Rev. 2015 Jul;38(3):407-18; discussion 419. doi: 10.1007/s10143-015-0605-7. Epub 2015 Feb 14.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.