The Journal of urology
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The Journal of urology · Nov 1993
Comparative StudyComparison of patient-controlled analgesia versus intramuscular narcotics in resolution of postoperative ileus after radical retropubic prostatectomy.
Patient-controlled analgesia has become standard practice after major abdominal operations. The benefits of patient-controlled analgesia have been well documented. However, its possible effect of prolonging postoperative ileus has not been well examined. ⋯ The patients receiving patient-controlled analgesia resolved the postoperative ileus an average of 1.0 day later than the intramuscular injection group (5.2 days versus 4.2 days p < 0.0001). Overall hospital stay was not significantly affected. Our results show that patient-controlled analgesia use prolongs postoperative ileus.