Precision Medicine Online: UC launches clinical trial for post-spinal surgery pain management
Precision Medicine Online highlighted a University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute clinical trial applying a personalized approach to pain management that doctors hope can improve post-surgical pain, reduce opioid dependence and reduce length of hospital stays.
More than half of patients who undergo spine surgery report poor pain control, and between 30 and 50 percent experience chronic pain for longer than 12 weeks (the time of routine tissue healing) following surgery.
Led by the University of Cincinnati's Owoicho Adogwa, MD, the trial takes patients' blood and saliva samples to see how their unique genes respond to different medications.
"Drug reactions vary significantly among individuals," Adogwa, assistant professor of neurosurgery in UC's College of Medicine, told Precision Medicine Online. "In spine surgery, traditional 'one size fits all' pain management is often inadequate due to genetic variations in drug metabolism."
Adogwa said early results of the trial have been encouraging, including shorter hospital stays for patients in the active arm of the trial.
Read the Precision Medicine Online story.
Featured photo at top of Dr. Adogwa in surgery. Photo/UC Health.
Related Stories
'My health is priceless'
April 7, 2026
Weight loss drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, are changing more than waistlines — they're quietly transforming how people spend money, what they prioritize and who can afford better health. As Local 12/WKRC-TV recently reported, for some patients, the medications are life-changing. For others, the cost can be overwhelming.
Students prefer AI chatbots, until they know it is one
April 7, 2026
A University of Cincinnati College of Nursing pilot study found that Doctor of Nursing Practice students preferred AI chatbot responses over human answers — until they suspected the source was a chatbot, revealing trust issues in higher education advising.
Photographic Poem Inventions on display in new exhibition at UC Blue Ash
April 6, 2026
A photo exhibition that explores decay, disappearance and dysfunction is currently on display at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. Photographic Poem Inventions was created by H. Michael Sanders, professor emeritus of Media Communications at UC Blue Ash.