A comparative study of preemptive agents alleviating postoperative spinal surgery pain

Abstract EN

Introduction: Postoperative pain activates various pain mechanisms from nociceptive, neuropathic, and inflammatory pathways.

Microscopic spine surgeries can disrupt subcutaneous tissues triggering an inflammatory cascade, consequently, result in postoperative pain.

Effective postoperative pain alleviation promotes postoperative recovery.

Faster pain alleviation will encourage early ambulation, shorten hospital stays, and can prevent the initiation of chronic pain.

To achieve this, multimodal analgesia use leads to an accumulative analgesic effect.

Objectives: This retrospective study attempts to analyze in comparative manner the different aspects of the perioperative agents introduced to relief postoperative pain following conventional microscopic spinal surgeries.

Methods and materials: Patients were randomly allocated into three group.

In group I, patients received intravenous magnesium sulphate perioperatively.

In group II, patients received intraoperative epidural steroids, and in group III, patients received neither of the two agents (control group).

Patient demographics were collected in terms of sex, age, duration of symptoms, medical history, and social history.

Results: The study final population included 33 men and 26 women.

The median age of patients 45.38± 10.68 years.

Statistically, there was no significant difference between the three groups recruited.

Final results, demonstrated a substantial decrease in VAS scores of back pains.

Leg pain scores reported notable differences.

No patient developed postoperative or other complications related to steroid application and magnesium infusions.

Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of a comprehensive preemptive analgesic agents’ program.

Based on our primary results, we advise the use of both agents concurrently.