Chirurgia italiana
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A prospective randomized clinical trial on pain control after major abdominal surgery.
This study was conducted in order to investigate the advantages and limitations of four analgesic modalities: a) epidural morphine; b) intravenous morphine; c) patient controlled intravenous morphine (patient-controlled analgesia); and d) non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Eighty patients undergoing major abdominal surgical procedures were prospectively and randomly treated with one of the above-mentioned analgesic methods. Evaluation of pain perception was done using the visual analogue pain score and the simple descriptive scale 4 hours after the procedure, in the early morning on postoperative day 1 and in the afternoon on postoperative days 1, 2 and 3. ⋯ Morphine proved to be the drug of choice. Drug titration may be modulated in relation to the psychological characteristics of the patient. The best drug titration modality, in fact, is patient-controlled analgesia.