DALLAS — Preoperative counseling and perioperative pain management strategies significantly reduced opioid prescriptions at discharge for patients who underwent lateral neck dissection for thyroid cancer, according to study results.
The results — presented at American Head & Neck Society Annual Meeting — showed the range of discharge opioids for patients who undergo neck dissection for thyroid cancer could be 0 to 125 morphine milligram equivalents (MME), equivalent to 15 tablets of 5 mg oxycodone or 25 tablets of 5 mg hydrocodone.
“After routine surgery, we were