Ricerc@Sapienza

Background and Aims: Acute postoperative pain after total hip arthroplasty
(THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has been reported as moderateto-
severe. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different anesthetic
techniques on post-operative analgesic opioid consumption in patients who
underwent THA and TKA and received Sufentanil Sublingual Tablet System
Zalviso® (SSTS) for post-operative pain.
Methods: Adults aged ≥18years, who had undergone THA and TKA, received
SSTS for the first 72 hours after surgery. Patients were grouped according
to the kind of surgery and the type of anesthesia. THAwas performed under
spinal anesthesia (SA) or general balanced anesthesia (GA). TKA was conducted
under SA or single-shot peripheral nerve block (PNB). Data were collected
at baseline (T0) and from day 1-3 after surgery.
Results: Twenty-eight patients were included after THA (n=17; 60.7%) and
TKA (n=11; 39.3%). 3 patients prematurely interrupted treatment. In THA,
SA and GA were associated with a similar postoperative opioid consumption,
25.3 vs 22.5 doses respectively. Similarly, in TKA, no differenceswere observed
in total opioid consumption in patients undergoing PNBs and SA, which resulted
in 32.5 vs 30 doses, respectively (Figure 1). Timing for the first SSTS
dose was similar in patients undergoing SA (75.9 vs 74 min, in THA and
TKA respectively). Conversely, it was significantly shortened by GA in THA
(27.5 min) and delayed in PNB in TKA (216.7 min).