Anesthesia and analgesia
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 1996
Multicenter Study Clinical TrialA multicenter evaluation of remifentanil for early postoperative analgesia.
We evaluated the use of an infusion of remifentanil to provide postoperative analgesia during recovery from total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with remifentanil and propofol. One hundred fifty-seven patients from seven medical centers underwent abdominal, spine, joint replacement, or thoracic surgery. Remifentanil was titrated in an effort to limit pain to 0 or 1 on a 0-3 scale. ⋯ Apnea occurred in 11 patients (7.0%). There was a large variation in the incidence of respiratory depression between the centers, ranging from 0 to 75%. The explanation for the large variability in respiratory outcome was not evident.