Acetaminophen IV Soln 10 MG/ML (A) for Lumbar Spine Fusion

Simple explanation and rationale: Recovery after spine surgery is usually accompanied by severe pain which has traditionally been managed with opioids. It is common practice to supplement opioid treatment with different classes of analgesics which work through alternative pain pathways and receptors in order to achieve an additive or synergistic effect while reducing the amount of opioids necessary for pain control. Acetaminophen can be a beneficial supplemental analgesic to opioids for postoperative pain relief. Intervention: Patients will be randomized to either the treatment with IV acetaminophen (A), PO acetaminophen (B), or hydromorphone control group (C). Objective/Purpose: Primary objective is to determine the impact of administering a supplemental non-opioid analgesic drug such as IV or PO acetaminophen on total opioid dose administered over the postoperative period. Secondary objectives include investigating the impact of IV/PO acetaminophen on the level of postoperative pain, patient satisfaction, and side effects secondary to opioids such as nausea, vomiting, pruritus, sedation, respiratory depression, ileus, and urinary retention, and PACU (postoperative care unit) discharge time. Study population: 126 patients will be enrolled in the study (42 for group A, 42 for group B, and 42 for control group C). Follow-up and Endpoints / Outcomes: Postoperative assessments will be done at 0, 30, and 60 minutes, 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours after surgery. Patients will be evaluated for pain (using a numeric rating scale), total opioid consumption, and for opioid side effects including drowsiness (using the Ramsey sedation scale and the Aldrete score at the time of arrival to and discharge from recovery room), respiratory depression, nausea, vomiting, and pruritus. Patient satisfaction will also be assessed using a numeric rating scale.