Anaesthesia
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Comparative Study
Longterm treatment with epidural opioids. A retrospective study comprising 150 patients treated with morphine chloride and buprenorphine.
During a 2-year period, 150 patients were treated with epidural opioids for more than 7 days; 89 received morphine and 61 buprenorphine. In 16 cases, medication was changed from morphine to buprenorphine, and in 6 from buprenorphine to morphine. In 19 patients in each group, the disease process was benign. ⋯ Side effects were reported in 46% of patients given morphine and 20% given buprenorphine. Seventy-one patients were treated on an outpatient basis. In these cases, buprenorphine was administered for 89% of the total duration of treatment and morphine chloride for 52%.
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Femoral and lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh blocks have been performed in a group of 50 children; the method has not previously been described in paediatric practice. The technique was judged to have been successful in 48 (96%) of the children. There were no early or late complications. It is concluded that these blocks are easy to perform, even in small children and infants, and that they can produce reliable postoperative analgesia for a variety of orthopaedic and plastic procedures.