The Effect of Upper Extremity Tourniquet Time on Postoperative Pain and Opiate Consumption

There is widespread use of pneumatic tourniquet for both upper and lower extremity orthopedic surgeries. Tourniquet use improves visualization, decreases blood loss, and as a result, decreases operative time. Exceeding a certain amount of tourniquet time can cause lasting neuromuscular damage. Orthopedic procedures cause significant pain, and the perioperative narcotic prescriptions after orthopedic surgery have been identified as one of the major contributors to the opioid epidemic. Our aim was to determine whether increasing tourniquet time had a negative impact on immediate postoperative opiate usage in the upper extremity, and to determine other factors associated with increased immediate postoperative opiate usage.

A retrospective medical record review was performed on patients who underwent volar pleading for fracture fixation between January 2014 and December 2019 at a single institution. Postoperative pain, morphine equivalent dose (MED) usage, and demographic variables were collected. Multivariable analysis was performed, with P < .05 considered significant.

Immediate postoperative MED consumed was not correlated with operative time, tourniquet time, preoperative substance usage, or sex. However, postoperative MED consumed was correlated with preoperative narcotic use, high body mass index (BMI), and fracture surgery complexity.

Tourniquet usage under current guidelines does not appear to have an effect on postoperative pain and narcotic usage. Preoperative narcotic usage, BMI, and surgery complexity are significant factors for postoperative opiate consumption.