IMPORTANCE Historically, opioid pain medications have been overprescribed following thyroid and parathyroid surgery. Many narcotic prescriptions are incompletely consumed, creating waste and opportunities for abuse.OBJECTIVE To determine whether limiting opioid prescriptions after outpatient thyroid and parathyroid surgery to patients who opt in to narcotic treatment reduces opioid consumption without increasing postoperative pain compared with usual care (routine narcotic prescriptions). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA randomized clinical trial of Postoperative Opt-In Narcotic Treatment (POINT) or routine narcotic prescription (control) was conducted at a single tertiary referral center from June 1 to December 30, 2020. A total of 180 adults undergoing ambulatory cervical endocrine surgery, excluding patients currently receiving opioids, were assessed for eligibility. POINT patients received perioperative pain management counseling and were prescribed opioids only on patient request. Patients reported pain scores (0-10) and medication use through 7 daily postoperative surveys. Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with opioid consumption.INTERVENTIONS Patients in the POINT group were able to opt in or out of receiving prescriptions for opioid pain medication on discharge. Control patients received routine opioid prescriptions on discharge. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESDaily peak pain score through postoperative day 7 was the primary outcome. Noninferiority was defined as a difference less than 2 on an 11-point numeric rating scale from 0 to 10. Analysis was conducted on the evaluable population. RESULTSOf the 180 patients assessed for eligibility, the final study cohort comprised 102 patients: 48 randomized to POINT and 54 to control. Of these, 79 patients (77.5%) were women and median age was 52 (interquartile range, 43-62) years. A total of 550 opioid tablets were prescribed to the control group, and 230 tablets were prescribed to the POINT group, in which 23 patients (47.9%) opted in for an opioid prescription. None who opted out subsequently required rescue opioids. In the first postoperative week, 17 POINT patients (35.4% of survey responders in the POINT group) reported consuming opioids compared with 27 (50.0%) control patients (P = .16). Median peak outpatient pain scores were 6 (interquartile range, 4-8) in the control group vs 6 (interquartile range, 5-7) in the POINT group (P = .71). In multivariate analysis, patients with a history of narcotic use were 7.5 times more likely to opt in (95% CI, 1.61-50.11; P = .02) and 4.8 times more likely to consume opioids (95% CI, 1.04-1.52; P = .01). Higher body mass index (odds ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01-1.23; P = .03) and highest inpatient postoperative pain score (odds ratio, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.04-1.52; P = .02) were also associated with opioid consumption. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEIn this trial, an opt-in strategy for postoperative narcotics reduced opioid prescription without increasing pain after cervical endocrine surgery.

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Background Previous studies report high rates of postoperative morbidity and mortality among SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) patients. With routine preoperative screening, we are identifying an increasing number of patients with asymptomatic and mild COVID-19. Based on these prior studies, we hypothesized that patients with asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 infections have low perioperative morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine the risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality associated with operations performed on patients diagnosed with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19. Methods A multicenter, retrospective study of patients with asymptomatic/mild SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection diagnosed within 8 days of surgery from March 2020 to February 2021. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality and secondary outcomes included pulmonary complications and perioperative morbidity. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention criteria of COVID severity was used for categorization. Results The initial cohort included 53 patients. COVID-19 infection was detected preoperatively in 86.8%. At admission, 90.5% of patients were asymptomatic, 7.5% had mild COVID-19 symptoms, and 1.9% were unknown due to obtundation and later determined to be asymptomatic. Of the 53 cases, 35.8% were general surgical and 18.9% orthopedic; the remaining 54.7% were other surgical subspecialties. Overall mortality was 0%. New COVID-19 symptoms developed in 13.2% of patients postoperatively, with only 11.3% developing postoperative pulmonary complications. Conclusion Postoperative morbidity and mortality rates were low among patients with asymptomatic and mild COVID-19. The risks of nonoperative management should be weighed against these operative risks in such patients with surgical indications.

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