• Jean-Michel Devys, Anne Mora, Benoît Plaud, Christian Jayr, Agnès Laplanche, Bruno Raynard, Philippe Lasser, and Bertrand Debaene.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Gustave Roussy Institute, 39 Rue Camille Desmoulins, 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France. jmdevys@fo-rothschild.fr
• Can J Anaesth. 2003 Apr 1;50(4):355-61.

PurposeTo compare, over a 48-hr follow-up period, the analgesia and side-effects of patient controlled iv analgesia (PCA) with morphine alone vs combined intrathecal and PCA morphine (IT+PCA) in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery.MethodsSixty adult patients undergoing abdominal surgery for cancer were randomly allocated to receive preoperative IT (0.3 or 0.4 mg) plus postoperative PCA morphine or postoperative PCA morphine alone. Postoperative analgesia was tested at rest and while coughing on a visual analogue pain scale and morphine consumption was recorded. Patients' satisfaction, arterial oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, episodes of nausea, vomiting and pruritus were also noted.ResultsAnalgesia at rest and while coughing was significantly better in the IT+PCA morphine group (rest: P = 0.01; coughing: P = 0.005) on the first postoperative day only. IT+PCA morphine constantly provided adequate analgesia during this period. Morphine consumption was lower in the IT+PCA morphine group during this period also (IT+PCA: 9 (17) vs PCA: 40 (26); mg of morphine, mean (SD), P = 0.0001). No difference was found in pain relief and morphine consumption between the groups on the second postoperative day. Nausea and vomiting were more frequent with IT+PCA morphine on the first postoperative day. No respiratory depression occurred in either group. Satisfaction was high in both groups.ConclusionsIT+PCA morphine improves patient comfort constantly during the first postoperative day after major abdominal surgery. However, after the first postoperative day, IT+PCA morphine provides no additional benefit.

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