Korean J Anesthesiol.  1981 Sep;14(3):283-288.

Caudal Morphine for Postoperative Pain Control after Abdominal Surgery

• Woo NS
• Yoon DM
• Oh HK

Abstract

Caudal narcotic analgesia was assessed after the injection of 3mg morphine diluted in 30ml(physiologic) saline into the sacral canal in 15 patients after upper abdominal surgery, in 20 patients after lower abdominal surgery under general anesthesia, and in 20 patients after perianal surgery under caudal block. Pain relief was evaluated by the subsequent need for systemic analgesics. All cases had considerable relief from pain and the morphine was effective for 12 or more hours. There were no significant differences between pain relief of the upper abdominal and lower abdominal surgery group, upper abdomianl and perianal surgery group, and lower abdominal and perianal surgery group (p>0.05, p>0.05, p>0.05). It is suggested that the morphine, which was administered into the sacral, cannal, reached the subarachnoid space and produced it's effect by direct action on the specific opiate receptors in the substantia gelatinosa of the posterior horn cell of the spinal cord. Consequently, whether analgesia from epidural narcotics appears to be segmental in distribution or not is still in controveray.

MeSH Terms

Analgesia
Analgesics
Anesthesia, General
Humans
Morphine*
Narcotics
Pain, Postoperative*
Posterior Horn Cells
Receptors, Opioid
Spinal Cord
Subarachnoid Space
Substantia Gelatinosa
Analgesics
Morphine
Narcotics
Receptors, Opioid