Effect of Post-operative Ibuprofen After Surgery for Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Opioid use and abuse is a major public health issue. US Surgeon General, Dr. Vikta Murthy, has recently called for investigation into evidence-based prescribing of opioids. Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common procedure in the US, with about 250,000 cases performed annually.1 Currently, there is no consensus for appropriate post-operative analgesic control after ESS. Many practitioners use a combination of acetaminophen and narcotics for pain control. Importantly, most rhinologists avoid the use of NSAIDs due to a theoretical concern for decreased platelet aggregation and the potential risk of increased post-operative hemorrhage. However, no studies to date have evaluated the use of ibuprofen in CRS patients following ESS. Conceivably, if the investigators can improve post-operative pain control after ESS with using ibuprofen, then that may decrease standard prescriptions for narcotic analgesics. Given that 60% of narcotic overdose deaths are due to prescribed medications, this would help deliver improved pain control with less narcotic prescriptions. Therefore, the objective is to perform a pilot prospective cohort study to evaluate the use of narcotics in sinus surgery and the effect of ibuprofen following ESS. This pilot study will provide critical baseline data for narcotic use, ibuprofen safety and ibuprofen analgesic impact to optimize the design of a future prospective, randomized study. Thus, specific aims are as follows: Specific Aim 1: Patients with CRS will document their narcotic use in the first 7 days following sinus surgery. This will allow us to reform prescribing practices. Hypothesis: There will be a wide range of narcotic usage among post-op patients with the mean usage being less than the amount typically prescribed post-operatively. Specific Aim 2: During enrollment the investigators will ask patients to self-select the study arm they would like to join (ibuprofen versus no ibuprofen) thus documenting willingness to participate, which is important in designing the future randomized study. Hypothesis: Most patients approached will be wiling to participate and will indicate willingness to be part of a similar randomized study. Specific Aim 3a: Determine impact of ibuprofen on post-operative sinus surgery patients' pain level. The investigators will analyze patients with CRS that are set to undergo ESS in two cohorts (standard pain regimen and standard pain regimen plus ibuprofen) and assess postoperative pain at days 1, 3, and 7 by 10-cm visual analogue scale, amount of post-operative narcotic pain medication used, and number of days post-operatively taking narcotic medications, Hypothesis: Addition of ibuprofen will decrease post-operative pain and will decrease number of opioid pills used. Specific Aim 3b: Determine impact of ibuprofens impact on post-operative epistaxis. Using the same patient cohorts, degree of epistaxis will be assessed utilizing standardized recording documents and a 10-cm visual analogue scale, as well as a previously used epistaxis grading system.2 The investigators will assess these outcomes on post-operative day 1, 3, and 7. Hypothesis: Addition of ibuprofen will demonstrate no increase in post-operative epistaxis compared to the control group. At the study institution, approximately 250 endoscopic sinus cases are performed per year performed by two rhinologists. This will yield ample potential research subjects to complete the study. To the investigators knowledge, there is one previous study looking at the effect of peri-operative NSAIDs during ESS. This study found no increased risk in intraoperative or postoperative bleeding after administration of ketorolac. This will be the first study to examine the effect of post-operative oral ibuprofen use and its effects on opioid use, as well as pain and epistaxis outcomes.