Opioid Free Anesthesia

  Abstract Opioid free anesthesia (OFA) is gaining popularity as an anesthetic technique to enhance surgical recovery and reduce opioid consumption within the postoperative period. For many decades and continuing today, opioids are administered throughout the perioperative period. Opioid use has dramatically risen and opioid overdose has earned the leading cause of unintentional death in the United States.1Opioids contain many unfavorable side effects such as the potential for abuse or misuse, nausea, vomiting, constipation, ileus, pruritus, altered mental status, urinary retention, respiratory complications, and increased length of hospital stay.1,2Anesthesia professionals play a role in patient’s exposure to opioids, as many patients’ first exposure to opioids may be during the perioperative period.1An OFA technique was selected for this gender reassignment case to ensure a shorter surgical recovery while avoiding the undesirable side effects of opioids. OFA is a multimodal anesthesia technique including hypnotics, NMDA antagonists, local anesthetics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and alpha-2 agonists.4 Keywords Opioid free anesthesia, opioid crisis, gender reassignment, gender dysphori