European urology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
What are the parameters for predictive selection of patients requiring anesthesia for extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy?
Additional anesthesia is required to minimize the tolerable pain level in efficiently performed extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) with electrohydraulic and electromagnetic sources. In order to assess optimum anesthesia for each patient undergoing a standardized ESWL protocol, pain measurement and scoring were carried out. We attempted to determine the individual type and amount of analgesia prior to treatment. ⋯ The TP and MTP levels are lower in patients requiring stronger analgesia. The determined parameters are suitable for patient preselection and individual assessment of anesthesia prior to ESWL. It may be assumed that 50% of patients administered intravenous opioids are overtreated. Routine pain measurement for patient depends on the individual pain tolerance level. A third phase of this study recruiting a large number of patients will contribute to the confirmation of these results.