Abstract
The society of postoperative pain service (POPS) was established to standardize postoperative pain service in order to improve the quality of life and safety of patients after surgery. We performed a nationwide survey in October 2009 on postoperative pain control. This survey revealed the average strategy used in Japan for postoperative pain control after abdominal surgery.
The results showed that patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) and intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) are widely used in Japan for postoperative pain control after abdominal surgery. In most cases where PCEA is performed, a disposable PCEA infusor (settings : continuous infusion, 4 ml/h; PCA, 3 ml; filling time, 30-60 min) is used together with 300 ml of 0.2% ropivacaine and 300 ml of fentanyl (3 μg/ml). For most of the patients in whom IV-PCA is performed, a disposable IV-PCA infusor (settings : continuous infusion, 1 ml/h; PCA, 1 ml; filling time, 10 min) is used together with fentanyl (25 μg/ml).
