From Incision to Prescription: Unraveling Pain and Opioid Use in Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery

Adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery often involves extensive spinal realignment to restore spinopelvic parameters and functional alignment. Unfortunately, patients frequently experience significant postoperative pain, often leading to prolonged opioid use. This study investigates patient- and surgery-related factors associated with opioid use and pain following ASD surgery.

We conducted a retrospective review of ASD cases performed at our institution between 2016 and 2023. All patients underwent multilevel spinal fusion for correction of scoliosis and/or kyphosis.

Of the 264 patients, 231 (88%) required opioids postoperatively, and 22.4% remained on opioids at 12 months. Preoperative opioid use (P < 0.001), pelvic incidence (PI) <55° (P = 0.018) due to inability for pelvic retroversion, revision surgery for proximal junctional kyphosis (P = 0.006), and hardware failure (P < 0.001) were associated with prolonged opioid use. Notably, patients who underwent intradiscal osteotomy (IDO) had a shorter duration of opioid use due to more harmonious correction of their lumbar lordosis (P = 0.006). Pain scores were significantly higher in patients who underwent anterior column release (P < 0.001) and who experienced postoperative complications (proximal junctional kyphosis and hardware failure; P < 0.05). In contrast, patients treated with IDO or pedicle subtraction osteotomy reported lower pain (P < 0.05). In multivariable analysis, preoperative opioid use was the strongest independent predictor of 12-month use (OR = 3.95, P = 0.001), while PI > 55° was independently associated with decreased 12-month use (OR = 0.33, P = 0.009).

This study highlights several key risk factors for prolonged opioid dependence and elevated postoperative pain in ASD surgery, including preoperative narcotic use, postoperative PI < 55°, revision surgery for mechanical complications, and specific osteotomy techniques. The protective effect of IDO in reducing pain and opioid duration is most likely due to more harmonious correction of lumbar lordosis and an improvement in lumbar lordosis-PI mismatch.

These findings underscore the importance of preoperative optimization, opioid-sparing pain management strategies, and enhanced recovery pathways to mitigate long-term opioid reliance and improve patient outcomes.