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Obese Patients Who Receive an Opioid-Sparing Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Protocol are at Increased Risk of Persistent Pain After Breast Surgery

  • Breast Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Obese patients are at increased risk of persistent pain and chronic opioid dependence after surgery. We sought to evaluate the impact of an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol in breast surgery patients to determine whether multimodal analgesia was effective for both obese and non-obese patients.

Methods

A prospective cohort of patients undergoing breast surgery who received an opioid-sparing ERAS protocol was compared with patients who did not receive ERAS, including a historical cohort. Pain scores were compared with respect to body mass index (BMI). Obesity was defined as BMI ≥ 30, and moderate to severe pain was defined as 4–10 of a 10-point scale. Postoperative day one and week one pain scores were compared using the Kruskal–Wallis test.

Results

A combined contemporary and historical cohort of 1353 patients underwent lumpectomy and mastectomy without reconstruction. The present analysis comprises 622 patients with pain scores who did and did not receive ERAS between 2015 and 2018. The two groups were demographically similar. The day after surgery, those who received ERAS reported lower rates of moderate to severe pain, regardless of BMI (obese: 46.3% vs. 21.8%, p < 0.001; non-obese: 36.3% vs. 19.4%, p = 0.002). One week after surgery, obese patients who received ERAS had higher rates of persistent pain compared with non-obese patients (18.6% vs. 11.1%, p = 0.042).

Conclusions

An opioid-sparing ERAS protocol utilizing multimodal analgesia significantly improved postoperative pain control for obese and non-obese patients. However, it appears that obese patients are still at relatively greater risk for persistent pain after surgery.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Maimonides Medical Center anesthesiologists, perioperative staff, general surgery residents, anesthesia residents, pharmacists, physician assistants, and the administrative staff of the Maimonides Breast Center.

Funding

This research did not receive any funding from agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Claudya Morin MD, Munazza Javid MD, Yamini Patel MD, Charusheela Andaz MD, Donna-Marie Manasseh MD, Patrick I. Borgen MD & Kristin E. Rojas MD

  2. Peter Flom Statistical Consulting, New York City, NY, USA

    Peter Flom PhD

Authors
  1. Claudya Morin MD
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  2. Munazza Javid MD
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  3. Yamini Patel MD
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  4. Peter Flom PhD
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  5. Charusheela Andaz MD
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  6. Donna-Marie Manasseh MD
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  7. Patrick I. Borgen MD
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  8. Kristin E. Rojas MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristin E. Rojas MD.

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Disclosure

Dr. P. Borgen and Dr. K. Rojas have received speaker’s honoraria from Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All other authors report no relevant commercial, financial, consultant, or institutional conflict of interest.

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Morin, C., Javid, M., Patel, Y. et al. Obese Patients Who Receive an Opioid-Sparing Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Protocol are at Increased Risk of Persistent Pain After Breast Surgery. Ann Surg Oncol 27, 4802–4809 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-020-08894-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-020-08894-9

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