Der Schmerz
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The spectrum of perioperative pain treatment is discussed in the present review. The analgesic efficacy of various drugs and the dosage methods of administration and side effects reported for them in such reference works as the practical guide on the management of acute pain recently published by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) are described. Effective postoperative analgesia can diminish stress reactions following surgery. ⋯ Investigations performed by the author of this review have shown that epidural infusion of highly diluted mixtures of bupivacaine/fentanyl is highly effective in the analgesic treatment of patients undergoing prostatectomy, providing excellent physical mobilization. The potential dangers of drug combinations and contraindications are also discussed. The concept of using balanced analgesia to induce additive or synergistic effects following the administration of analgesic drugs requires further clinical studies.
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In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, 86 patients (44 verum, 42 placebo), scheduled for knee-joint arthrotomies or minor orthopaedic operations received either naproxen, a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory analgesic, or placebo orally in three doses: the first immediately before the operation and the others 6 h and 12 h after the first. The verum group received 1250 mg naproxen in total. Postoperative pain intensity was measured by the category splitting procedure. ⋯ The intensity of typical side effects of opioids and antipyretic anti-inflammatory analgesics (nausea, vomiting, stomachache, headache, vertigo) was low and they were easily controlled in all cases. Lowering of respiratory frequency was not observed. Perioperative administration of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic naproxen results in better pain relief and significantly lower opioid requirements (by about 46%) after minor orthopaedic surgery.
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Despite regular administration of analgesics, a high percentage of patients with chronic malignant pain experience break-through cancer pain or incident pain. Such pain peaks in patients with chronic malignant pain require "rescue" medication in addition to basic analgesia with for example slow-release morphine or buprenorphine. For rescue medication a fast acting and powerful analgesic should be available to the patient. Recent studies have shown that intranasal fentanyl provides rapid onset of pain relief. ⋯ The patients received 2, 4, 6, 7 or 8 fentanyl boluses (totalling 0.054 mg, 0.108 mg, 0.162 mg, 0.189 mg or 0.216 mg, respectively). Rapid onset and marked reduction of pain intensity was achieved in all five patients. There were no clinically relevant changes in arterial haemoglobin oxygen saturation, heart rate, arterial blood pressure or respiratory rate. All five patients scored the pain relief obtained as good or very good. There were no reports of pain or burning sensations in the nose or other side-effects.