Journal of opioid management
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In clinical practice, using different opioid analgesics is common during the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia and for postoperative analgesia. However, if the opioid analgesic could be limited to a single drug, we hypothesized that the risk of adverse drug interactions could be reduced, with fewer adverse effects. We examined the use of oxycodone as a single opioid in a well-defined cohort of orthopedic patients undergoing general anesthesia. ⋯ Oxycodone can be used as the sole opioid in orthopedic surgery with good intra- and postoperative efficacy and safety; ie, without clinically relevant changes in hemodynamic and respiratory parameters.