Mark Malesker, PharmD, FCCP, FCCM, FASHP, BCPS, professor of Pharmacy Practice presented his research on “A Systematic Review of Opioid-Sparing Effect of Intravenous Acetaminophen in Adult Surgery Patients” at the 49th annual Society of Critical Care Medicine meeting in Orlando on Feb. 18.
Opioid analgesics are commonly required for pain management in the postoperative setting. Intravenous (IV) acetaminophen is often used in multimodal analgesia to reduce the amount and duration of opioid use, however, this opioid sparing effect is not well established given the limited guidance in the prescribing information of IV acetaminophen.
The results of this systematic analysis suggests that IV acetaminophen is not effective in reducing opioid consumption in the majority of surgical patients compared to other adjuvant analgesic agents. In patients where the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents is relatively contraindicated, IV acetaminophen may be an option.
