Evaluation of Postoperative Pain and Satisfaction After Orbital Fracture Repair

Objective: To correlate clinical outcomes in postoperative pain managed with opioid medications after orbital fracture repairs. Methods: A prospective observational study of all patients who underwent orbital fracture repairs and postoperative pain managed with hydrocodone-acetaminophen, oxycodone-acetaminophen or tramadol for three days was performed. Collected data included numerical pain rating scores, type of fractures, patient satisfaction, side effects and non-medicinal interventions. International Pain Outcomes (IPO) questionnaire was completed at postoperative week one visit. Results: Twenty-nine patients who underwent orbital fracture repairs and completed the IPO questionnaire reported having taken an average of 74.8 +/- 36.6 Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME) in the first week after the surgery from 102.5 +/- 10.0 MME of total opioids prescribed (Table 1). The amount of opioids used was not related to patient satisfaction or pain relief (p>0.05). Smoking status showed a moderate correlation and linear association with total MME taken by patients (spearman correlation coefficient 0.34, p=0.051). Although patients reported 69.4 +/- 24.9% overall pain relief and 9 out of 10 (median, IQR 5-10) scores in satisfaction with the pain regimen, 27.8% of patients reported needing more pain medication. This group reported higher levels of anxiety and lower satisfaction scores (p<0.001). They reported having taken more opioids than those who did not report the need for additional pain medications (p=0.07). Conclusion: Postoperative pain is managed with less than the prescribed amount of opioids after orbital fracture repairs in most patients. Anxious patients who had more opioids than average in the postoperative period expressed low satisfaction.