Ice-POP: Ice Packs for Postoperative Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

To evaluate the benefit of ice packs as a supplement to standard pain management following laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH).

This Institutional Review Board-approved randomized controlled trial involved patients undergoing LH for benign conditions. Subjects were randomized to receive standard enhanced recovery after surgery pain management or standard enhanced recovery after surgery plus ice packs.

Two academic tertiary care centers PATIENTS: Patients undergoing planned outpatient LH with the minimally invasive gynecologic surgery team between February 2019 and November 2020 were considered. Patients with chronic pain, current opioid use ≥1 week, or planned overnight hospitalizations were excluded. Primary outcome data were available for 51 subjects (24 control, 27 intervention).

Ice packs were placed on the abdomen in the operating room.

Pain was assessed at multiple time points throughout the study using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Opioid requirement was assessed using morphine milligram equivalent. There was no difference between the groups on any demographic variables. Morphine milligram equivalent requirements were also not different between the groups (p = .63). Postoperative day 1 (POD#1) VAS scores were not different (p = .89). Eighty-five percent of subjects reported feeling that their pain was controlled. Subjects who reported that they did not feel their pain was controlled did not use more opioids on POD#1 (p = .37), nor did they have higher POD#1 VAS scores (p = .55). Eighty-seven percent of the intervention subjects said they would use ice again, and 82.6% of them said they would recommend ice to others. There were no adverse events related to ice. All subjects were prescribed 20 tablets oxycodone and averaged 2.9 (SD 3.4) tablets used after discharge.

Ice packs are an acceptable supplement for postoperative pain control, but they do not reduce postoperative pain or opioid usage compared to standard pain management without ice packs.