Few orthopaedic surgeons take care to decrease postoperative pain.
We compared postoperative pain in 42 patients receiving continuous subcutaneous administration of Buprenorphine with 12 non-receiving patients.
We administered Buprenorphine to the 42 patients for 2 days at 0.013mg/hr, and we also administered NSAIDs, Pentazosin or Morphine to patients who required it.
In general anesthetic patients, there was a significant decrease in pain 6 to 12 hours after operation, but in lumbar anesthetic patients, there was no remarkable difference between the two groups. 92% of the non-receiving patients (11/12) of Buprenorphine used painkillers to decrese postoperative pain, but only 33% patients (14/42) used something in addition to Buprenorphine.
Continuous subcutaneous administration of Buprenorphine is useful for decresing postoperative pain in orthopaedical operations, particularly for general anesthesia.
