Articles: analgesia.
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Letter Comparative Study
Comparing the efficacy of epidural opiates with that of patient-controlled analgesia.
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Patient-controlled analgesia versus intermittent analgesia dosing.
Actively involving the patient in his or her own pain management by using patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) during the postoperative period is a concept recently introduced. This method allows self-administration of small, frequent doses of an analgesic agent to maintain a state of constant pain control. We studied the relative efficacy of PCA compared with intermittent analgesic dosing in 16 male patients requiring posterolateral thoracotomy. ⋯ In the patients using PCA, a significant reduction in the postoperative pulmonary complication rate, as evidenced by radiographic findings, was noted. In addition, significantly less medication was used and postoperative fever was substantially reduced in the PCA group. We believe PCA to be a safe, effective, and beneficial pain management modality that deserves attention in the postoperative period.
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Comparative Study
The control of post-thoracotomy pain. A comparative evaluation of thoracic epidural fentanyl infusions and cryo-analgesia.
This is a comparative study of two methods to relieve postoperative thoracotomy pain. Continuous thoracic epidural infusion of fentanyl produced superior analgesia when compared with cryo-analgesia of the relevant thoracic nerves. ⋯ This difference was significant at p less than 0.001. Respiratory and cardiovascular measurements were similar in both groups and the only side effect attributable to the epidural fentanyl was itching but this was not a problem.