Prolonged opioid use before knee or hip replacement surgery increases risk of poor outcomes
Source: Wolters Kluwer
"Opioid use should be considered yet another risk factor for surgeons and patients to consider prior to elective primary joint arthroplasty," write Hue H. Luu, MD, and colleagues of The University of Chicago. They note that more than half of patients in their national database study had at least one opioid prescription filled before undergoing total knee or hip arthroplasty (TKA or THA).