A Non-Narcotic Pathway for the Management of Postoperative Pain Following Pediatric Robotic Pyeloplasty

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to describe the non-narcotic pathway (NNP) for the management of postoperative pain after robotic pyeloplasty (RP); second, to compare perioperative outcomes for children undergoing RP whose postoperative pain was managed with and without the NNP.

A retrospective review was performed on 96 consecutive patients from October 2011 to December 2015 who underwent RP by three primary surgeons at a single pediatric institution. Children managed with an NNP received alternating doses of scheduled intravenous acetaminophen and ketorolac every 3 hours throughout the postoperative course. Perioperative outcomes were compared after grouping patients according to the type of postoperative pain management pathway. Continuous variables were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test, and categorical variables were compared using the two-tailed chi-squared test.

A total of 49 (51.0%) patients were managed with the NNP, and 47 (49.0%) patients were managed without the NNP. A larger proportion of patients in the NNP did not receive postoperative narcotic medications (71.4% vs 25.5%; p < 0.001). Patients in the NNP were administered less narcotics (median 0.000 mg vs 0.041 mg morphine equivalents/kg/day; p < 0.001) and had a shorter length of stay (median 1.0 day vs 2.0 days; p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with postoperative complications (p = 0.958) or surgical success (p = 0.958).

An NNP following pediatric RP is a viable and effective analgesic regimen that is associated with less narcotic use. It may also facilitate a shorter hospital stay. The majority of patients managed with this pathway had adequate pain control without being subject to the potential adverse effects of narcotic medications.