Preoperative Nerve Block for Rhinoplasty/Septoplasty

With the current opioid epidemic, more than 40,000 deaths can be attributed to prescription
and illicit opioid use per year. There is inherent risk for patients to develop addiction
when prescribing opiates for pain relief, and methods to reduce its use or the amount
prescribed can help mitigate this risk.

Surgery is one of the leading causes for prescribing narcotics to control pain. Patients
undergoing rhinoplasty are often prescribed a short course of opiates during the acute post
surgical phase. Intraoperative sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) block has been successfully and
safely used in endoscopic sinus surgery, and has been shown to decrease narcotic use and
inpatient hospital stay time.

The investigators are interested in determining if use of SPG block may offer an improved
strategy to reducing the use of narcotics for post rhinoplasty/septoplasty pain relief. The
investigators hypothesize that SPG block will reduce the amount of post operative opiates
required for pain control.

The study population will include patients undergoing rhinoplasty/septoplasty at Keck Medical
Center of USC who are able to provide consent. The study will include two arms: SPG block
(experimental) and placebo saline injection (control). Patients' post operative pain scale
and narcotic use will be recorded until first follow-up visit (2 weeks). Patient
demographics, surgical indication, and intraoperative analgesia will be recorded. T-tests
will be conducted between patient groups. ANOVA will be used to analyze other factors that
may be associated with decreased narcotic use.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Any patient requiring rhinoplasty/septoplasty and able to provide consent.

2. Must be willing to participate.

3. Must be able to complete consent in English or Spanish.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. History of opioid substance abuse disorder.

2. <18 years old

3. Currently pregnant