Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MURRAY — Going in for surgery often means filling a prescription for opioid painkillers, but one Utah doctor has changed the way he preps his patients so they don’t have to rely on opioids.
Sally Davis was scared she would not be able to do some of her favorite things like can peaches, practice yoga, and play with her dog Izzy. She needed a knee replacement.
“Bone on bone for years and years,” Davis said.
She went in for a new pre-operative treatment her doctor suggested a few days before her knee replacement. The treatment is called Iovera°. It’s designed to help relieve pain before patients go in for surgery, as an alternative to post-op involving opioid painkillers.
“It’s a hand-held device that circulates (nitrous oxide) through three little bitty needles,” said Dr. Roy Trawick, an orthopedic surgeon at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, or TOSH.
A new alternative to opioid painkillers?
The nitrous oxide essentially forms an ice ball around the nerve and produces a reversible knee injury. Dr. Trawick explained that the treatment temporality disrupts the body’s normal transmission of pain signals to the brain giving the patient pain relief.
“The temperature goes down to minus 80 Celsius. That’s not low enough to cause a permanent injury, but it puts the nerve to sleep, if you will,” he said.
Davis saw immediate results. Her pain went away as soon as the treatment was finished.
“I can’t even feel it! It’s great! I don’t have a problem. I probably don’t need the surgery!” she joked.
“As we see with the patient we did today, most commonly you can see a very dramatic result in terms of pain relief immediately when they get off the table,” said Trawick.
Intermountain Healthcare set a goal to reduce opioid prescriptions
Davis didn’t want to rely on opioids for pain relief after her surgery because of the way they typically make her feel. With the treatment, she no longer worried about managing her post-op pain.
“I’m sure there is going to be pain there, but I doubt it’s going to be to the point where I need narcotics,” she explained.
“The goal at Intermountain is to try to reduce our narcotic use or prescribing by 40 percent this year and we are on target for that,” Trawick said.
Trawick said the nerve regenerates in 8 to 16 weeks. He said the overall healing process was a lot faster and cheaper with a shorter hospital visit and less physical therapy.
Most importantly, it keeps Davis doing what she loves best — practicing yoga and spending time with her family.
While the treatment was still new, Dr. Trawick said a recent study demonstrated a 45 percent decrease in opioid use during the first 12 weeks after surgery.
He said insurance companies were also covering the procedure for most of his patients.
___
Editor's note: This story has been changed to show the Iovera° treatment uses nitrous oxide, not liquid nitrogen, and that Dr. Traywick is an orthopedic surgeon at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, not Intermountain Medical Center.
