Spinal News International features a summary of a recent presentation at the 19^th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Advancement of Spinal Surgery (ISASS) about opioid consumer patterns in adult patients following lumbar microdisectomy or decompression by Francis Lovecchio, MD, third-year orthopedic surgery resident at HSS.

Lovecchio detailed the data collection from a prospective observational study conducted at HSS and at Midwest Orthopedics at Rush from September 2017-2018 was performed using a HIPAA compliant automated SMS-based platform, which sent daily queries and enrolled patients asking for 24 hour opioid consumption and average Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) pain score. At six weeks or after patients reported cessation of opioid use, the final survey questions were asked, including the number of pills remaining, method of disposal, and side effects.

Lovecchio suggested insights from the study can be used to influence the content of national, state-wide, or institutional opioid prescribing guidelines.

Read the full article at SpinalNewsInternational.com.