Many doctors hope to reduce opioid use after spine surgery. A large review looked at whether the drug nefopam helps with this goal. It combined data from fifty-three patients who took the drug around the time of their operation. The team compared these patients to others who did not take nefopam.
The results did not support the hope for less painkiller use. Patients taking nefopam used the same amount of morphine as those who did not. They also reported similar levels of pain at twenty-four and forty-eight hours after surgery. The drug did not shorten the time patients spent in the hospital either.
Safety signals were mixed. Rates of sedation, nausea, dizziness, and urinary retention varied slightly between groups. The review noted that most studies used doses lower than what is typically needed to feel the drug's full effect. This limits how much we can say about the drug's true benefits or risks.