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Opioid Tolerance Influences Outcomes After Lumbar Fusion In Patients With Degenerative Pathology, Noah Levy, Max Detweiler, Dhruv K.C. Goyal, Ariana Reyes, Alexander R. Vaccaro

Phase 1

Introduction: Extended opioid use prior to surgery has been implicated in poorer postoperative outcomes. However, it remains unclear if there is a significant difference in postoperative outcomes among preoperative opioid-naïve and opioid-tolerant patients who undergo lumbar spinal fusion. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of preoperative opioid use on patient-reported outcome measures in patients undergoing lumbar spinal fusion.

Methods: This retrospective cohort analysis identified 260 patients who underwent lumbar spinal fusion at a high-volume, single institution. There were two cohorts: patients who were opioid-naïve (defined as total opioid consumption of ≤ 7 days in …