Alter TH, et al. - The intent behind this research, was to assess the effect of preoperative opioid counseling on patients’ pain experience and opioid consumption after carpal tunnel release (CTR) surgery. This prospective randomized study concluded that preoperative opioid counseling was observed to result in a significant decrease in overall opioid consumption following surgery.

• The authors conducted a prospective comparison of consecutive patients scheduled to undergo CTR surgery.
• They randomized patients to receive either formal preoperative opioid counseling or no counseling.
• They performed all operations with the same miniopen CTR surgical technique, and the same number of opioids were prescribed after surgery.
• They recorded daily opioid pill consumption, pain levels, and any adverse reactions.

• Compared with patients in the group without counseling, patients in the group with counseling reported significantly fewer prescribed opioid pills consumed during the day of surgery and the first day following surgery, while experiencing no significant difference in pain level experience.
• Moreover, compared to the group without counseling, patients in the group with counseling reported a significantly lower number of total pain pills consumed over the course of the study.
• In either group, no major adverse reactions were noted.