Postoperative pain relief following abdominal operations: A prospective randomised study of comparison of patient controlled analgesia with conventional parenteral opioids

BACKGROUND: Parenteral opioids are traditionally used for pain management following abdominal operations. Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) is replacing the conventional method for postoperative pain relief nowadays. AIMS: To find out the effectiveness of PCA in postoperative pain relief following abdominal operations. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This prospective randomised study was conducted in the Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-two consecutive patients undergoing abdominal operations were randomly divided into PCA group (n=32) who received intravenous PCA morphine and IM group (n=30) who received conventional intramuscular morphine in the postoperative period. Morphine consumption, pain relief, detailed pulmonary function tests and side-effects of morphine were assessed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: This was performed by "Epi Info 2000 version 6". Chi-square and Students 't' tests were used to relate the variables. RESULTS: The total morphine consumption of the PCA group was significantly lesser than IM group (mean 30.84 mg versus 37.36 mg P-0.015) and it was less at different intervals in the postoperative period. The PCA group had better pain relief when compared to the IM group (mean pain score 3.42 versus 4.97 P