At the Medical University of South Carolina, researchers have made a promising discovery that could change the way doctors manage pain after surgery. The team found that a medication called N-acetylcysteine, or NAC for short, can help reduce pain after spinal surgery and lower the need for opioid painkillers.
NAC isn’t a new drug—it’s already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for other uses, such as treating certain lung conditions and helping people recover from acetaminophen (paracetamol) overdoses. But now, this well-known drug is showing exciting potential in a new area: pain management after surgery.
The research focused on people who had spinal surgery, a procedure often followed by severe pain. Normally, patients are given strong opioid medications to manage this pain. While these drugs are effective, they come with serious risks. Opioids can be addictive, and over time, the body may stop responding to them as well, requiring higher doses.
Dr. Sylvia Wilson and Dr. Michael Scofield led the study. Dr. Wilson has long been searching for safer ways to manage pain after surgery—methods that don’t rely heavily on opioids. Dr. Scofield has studied how NAC affects the brain, especially how it might reduce pain and even help treat addiction.
In their clinical trial, patients who were having spinal surgery were randomly assigned to receive either NAC or a placebo (a simple saline solution). The results were impressive. People who received NAC needed 19% fewer opioid doses than those who received the placebo. They also waited longer before asking for pain relief, showing that NAC helped them feel better for a longer time after surgery.
What makes this especially exciting is that NAC’s pain-relieving effect seems to last even after the drug leaves the body. This is similar to what Dr. Scofield saw in earlier research, where NAC helped reduce cravings and relapse in people addicted to heroin. It suggests NAC may work in deeper ways, possibly by changing how the brain responds to pain.
Encouraged by these findings, the research team is now testing NAC in other types of surgery. Their next study will look at patients having minimally invasive hysterectomies.
These are surgeries to remove the uterus through small cuts, which also often cause pain afterward. By expanding their research, the team hopes to prove that NAC is safe and helpful across different kinds of surgery.
Changing how doctors treat post-surgical pain takes time and strong evidence. But Dr. Wilson and her team are committed to doing just that. They believe NAC could become a safer, more reliable option for managing pain, one that helps patients recover faster without the risks of addiction.
This research offers new hope to people who want pain relief without turning to opioids. As more studies are done, NAC may become a key part of a new, better way to manage pain after surgery. You can read more about this study in the journal Pain Management, where it’s already drawing attention as a promising step forward in modern medicine.
If you care about pain, please read studies about vitamin K deficiency linked to hip fractures in old people, and these vitamins could help reduce bone fracture risk.
For more information about wellness, please see recent studies that Krill oil could improve muscle health in older people, and eating yogurt linked to lower frailty in older people.
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