Highlights
- •The current opioid crisis is relevant to gynecologic oncology patients in the acute surgical setting.
- •Surgical pain management planning should include preoperative risk factor identification and postoperative pain education.
- •More effective pain relief can be achieved when multimodal analgesia is used.
- •Restrictive opioid prescribing guidelines should be used postoperatively whenever possible.
Abstract
Gynecologic oncologists have the unique opportunity of caring for patients in a broad
range of surgical and medical settings. With increasing awareness of the opioid epidemic
and the various factors that contribute to chronic opioid use, gynecologic oncologists
must also better understand how to best address acute postoperative pain without unknowingly
placing patients at risk for opioid misuse. This article examines the use of opioids
in the acute surgical setting and provides clinical guidelines and various strategies
to reduce opioid misuse.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 24, 2020
Accepted:
January 15,
2020
Received:
December 9,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
