Clinical Experience on Intravenous Patient Controlled Analgesia after Total Abdominal Hysterectomy

Kim, Yun Hee; Choe, Huhn

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We studied 150 patients who received intravenous patient controlled analgesia (PCA) after total abdominal hysterectomy to evaluate pain relief, analgesic consumption, patient's satisfaction and side effects.
METHODS
We made total 40 ml of analgesic mixture with morphine 40 mg, ketorolac 120 mg, droperidol 3 mg and normal saline. Loading/bolus/basal infusion dose and lockout interval was 2 ml, 1.5 ml, 0.5 ml/hr and 10 min, respectively. Numerical rating scale (NRS) pain score, cumulative analgesic consumption, degree of satisfaction, and incidence of side effects were evaluated. Also, correlation of age and education with analgesic consumption were evaluated.
RESULTS
The average pain scores using NRS were 3.1+/-1.7 (6 h), 2.1+/-1.5 (24 h), 1.7+/-1.5 (48 h). The average cumulative analgesic consumption were 11,7+/-5.0 ml (6 h), 23.0+/-6.7 ml (24 h), 32.1+/-3.7 ml (48 h). The degree of satisfaction in postoperative pain control was good in 94% of patients. There was no correlation between degree of satisfaction and analgesic consumption. Also age and level of education did not correlated with analgesic consumption.
CONCLUSIONS
Intravenous PCA with morphine, ketorolac, and droperidol is an effective method of postoperative pain control because it provides adequate pain relief and a few side effects with high patients satisfaction. However, age and level of education did not correlated with analgesic consumption.