Ear zap device cuts opioid need after major surgery

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: 1. Over 18 years of age 2. Scheduled for elective open primary abdominal and pelvic colorectal cancer resection surgical procedures at UPMC Shadyside Hospital, UPMC Magee-Women's Hospital, or UPMC Passavant Hospital and following the standard ERAS protocol. OR scheduled for a living-donor liver transplant surgery at UPMC Montefiore Hospital under the ERAS protocol. 3. Expected hospital stay of approximately 5 days Exclusion Criteria: 1. Patients who are considered by the medical or surgical team to not be able to give consent 2. Clinical evidence of anxiety, depression, including suicidal ideation. The diagnostic will be based on medical history, the current treatment, and the clinical examination. The PI or Co-I will be the one making the determination to enroll the subject after the subject undergoes psychosocial testing included in the protocol and that corresponding scores have been established. These tests will only be conducted after the patient has signed an informed consent form. 3. Chronic pain condition that at the discretion of the PI, should exclude the subject from participating -or- chronic opioid use defined as daily use of 60 mg of oral opioid equivalent. The diagnostic will be based on the medical history, the current treatment, and the clinical examination. The PI or Co-I will be the one making the determination to enroll the subject. 4. True allergy to all opioid medications. The diagnostic will be based on the medical history, and the determination of the symptoms associated with the recorded allergy. The PI or Co-I will be the one making the determination to enroll the subject. 5. History of or current alcohol abuse (defined as daily use of more than 1 liter of wine and/or 3 or more shots of hard liquor) or drug abuse (defined as daily use of illicit drugs) for at least 3 months. The PI or Co-I will be the one making the determination to enroll the subject. 6. Surgical procedure performed laparoscopically 7. Non elective surgery 8. Pregnancy 9. Contraindication for use of NBD® (including patients with cardiac pacemaker, hemophilia, and psoriasis vulgaris diagnosis and/or ear eczema) 10. Patients intubated with sedation, and/or receiving fentanyl infusion for sedation post-surgery. 11. Rapid recovery surgeries 12. Subjects with a diagnosed seizure disorder 13. Use of dexmedetomidine in the ICU