Abstract
Background: Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) techniques and intrathecal morphine (ITM) are the most widely used treatments for post-Caesarean section pain. We investigated of these two methods on the duration of postoperative 48 h with respect to analgesic quality. Methods: Fourty patients scheduled for elective Caesarean section were randomized to receive for postoperative analgesia either PCEA with containing meperidine or intrathecal morphine 0.2 mg together with the spinal anaesthetic and diclofenac was added as necessary. Postoperative analgesic requirements, quality of analgesia, patients satisfactions, and side effects were evalueted. Results: The addition of diclofenac to the lowest dose of intrathecal morphine appeared to provide nearly equal postoperative analgesia to the PCEA with meperidine during the 48 h study period, because of nausea and vomiting occurred more than patients were slightly lower in patients satisfaction than CSE group. Conclusions: It was concluded that PCEA induced better pain relief, caused less nausea/vomiting than intrathecal morphine.
