The purpose of this project is to study the effects of preoperative followed by scheduled intravenous acetaminophen on pain control for 24 hours postoperatively after minimally invasive 1 or 2 level transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. The advantages of intravenous acetaminophen are well known in the literature and its opioid-sparing effects have been documented in multiple surgical studies.~Multimodal regimens are now being advocated in the literature to decrease opioid use (8, 23). This is especially significant in spine surgery patients who often have chronic pain requiring long-term use of these habit-forming drugs as well as in patients who may not be able to tolerate opiods due to health status.~To our knowledge there are no studies done in the U.S. on the opioid sparing and pain reducing effects of intravenous acetaminophen on patients undergoing elective minimally invasive 1 or 2 level transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. Investigating intravenous acetaminophen, particularly its pain reducing and opioid sparing effects, may give surgeons another medication for use in a multimodal approach to pain.
The purpose of this project is to study the effects of preoperative followed by scheduled intravenous acetaminophen on pain control for 24 hours postoperatively after minimally invasive 1 or 2 level transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.