Articles: analgesia.
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The outpatient management of spinal opioids presents multiple challenges to the home infusion pharmacist. These include compounding, Schedule II prescription control, dispensing for long-term infusion or injection, reimbursement, and the management of opioids in the home. Although spinal opioids such as meperidine, fentanyl, and methadone have been used to control intractable pain, preservative-free morphine is the preferred opioid for epidural and intrathecal injection. ⋯ Spinal opioids can be administered intermittently, by continuous infusion, or patient-controlled analgesia pump. Extensive clinical experience indicates that the home administration of spinal opioids is safe and effective. There is a need for additional research on stability, storage and use of various opioids administered in the home environment.
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The use of spinal opioids in the management of acute pain is now widely accepted. The development of acute pain services has provided standardized approaches to the management of this modality. This article discusses technical considerations, monitoring, and benefits of this approach.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Analgesic benefit of locally injected bupivacaine after hemorrhoidectomy.
The analgesic efficacy of locally injected bupivacaine was studied in 40 patients undergoing hemorrhoidectomy. After a standard Milligan-Morgan hemorrhoidectomy, 40 age- and sex-matched patients were randomized to receive either 0.5 percent bupivacaine (1.5 mg/kg) in adrenaline solution (1:200,000) injected into the perianal area, or equivalent volumes of adrenaline solution. ⋯ Although the median time interval between surgery and first analgesic demand was nearly four times greater for patients receiving bupivacaine compared with adrenaline solution, there was no difference in the levels of pain recorded or in the overall opiate requirements. Local injection of bupivacaine after hemorrhoidectomy provides initial pain relief, but patients do not obtain an overall analgesic benefit.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Efficacy of continuous epidural analgesia and the implications for patient care in the early postoperative phase.
Management of postoperative pain has been shown to be inadequately controlled, and, in fact, can have significant deleterious effects on a patient's early postoperative recovery. Continuous epidural analgesia has recently been used to control postoperative pain. This mode of analgesia controls postoperative pain without the delays inherent in the PRN administration of systemic narcotics. ⋯ The results of this study showed that the level of pain relief and recovery of postoperative function was superior to that provided by the more widely used (PRN) systemic administration of narcotics. With the exception of the report of back pain by patients receiving the normal saline epidural solution, complications did not occur in a significantly greater proportion when using the epidural route. Although some nursing care problems were identified, patients who received epidural analgesia were able to be cared for on general care units with no adverse effects reported.