At the Medical University of South Carolina, a team of researchers has made a significant discovery. They found that a drug, already approved by the FDA, could help reduce pain for people after surgery.
This drug, called N-acetylcysteine (NAC), was tested in a study with people who had spinal surgery. The results were exciting: those who received NAC during their surgery felt less pain afterward and needed fewer strong painkillers, known as opioids, compared to those who didn’t get NAC.
Usually, after surgery, doctors give patients opioids to help with the pain. These drugs are effective, but they have a downside.
Over time, they can become less effective, and there’s a risk of addiction. So, finding ways to reduce their use is really important for patient safety.
Dr. Sylvia Wilson, a leading researcher in this study, has been working hard to find better ways to manage pain after surgery, especially ways that use fewer opioids.
She teamed up with Dr. Michael Scofield, a scientist who’s been studying NAC. NAC is typically used to treat things like acetaminophen poisoning and liver damage. But it also has effects on the brain, particularly in areas related to addiction and how we feel pain.
Dr. Scofield’s lab research showed that NAC might help with pain and addiction, making it a perfect match for Dr. Wilson’s goal of improving pain management. This collaboration led to the study where they tested NAC on patients undergoing spinal surgery.
In the study, patients either received NAC or a saline solution as part of their treatment during surgery. The team then observed the patients for 48 hours after their surgery. The results were promising.
Those who got NAC needed 19% fewer opioid doses than those who got the saline solution. They also reported feeling less pain and took longer to ask for pain medication after their surgery. What’s more, the positive effects of NAC seemed to last even after the drug should have worn off.
This wasn’t entirely surprising to the researchers. Dr. Scofield had previously seen in his lab that NAC had a long-lasting effect in studies related to heroin addiction. The hope is that this long duration effect will also apply to managing pain after surgery.
Encouraged by these findings, the research team is now planning to test NAC in other types of surgeries. They’re currently enrolling patients for a larger trial involving minimally invasive hysterectomies.
As they gather more data from more patients, they’ll be able to understand better how NAC affects pain associated with surgery. Their goal is to prove that NAC is not only effective but also safe for use during different types of surgeries.
In the world of medicine, changing standard practices requires a lot of evidence. Dr. Wilson and her team are determined to gather this evidence through extensive trials.
They aim to show that NAC can effectively and safely reduce the need for opioids after surgery, offering a new hope for pain management in the medical field.
If you care about pain, please read studies about why long COVID can cause pain, and common native American plant may help reduce diarrhea and pain.
For more information about pain, please see recent studies about why people with red hair respond differently to pain than others, and results showing this drug may relieve painful ‘long covid’ symptoms.
The research findings can be found in Pain Management.
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