RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION - AN ADVERSE OUTCOME DURING PATIENT-CONTROLLEDANALGESIA THERAPY

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is one of the more popular means of controlling postoperative pain. However, there is very little in the literature concerning the adverse outcome of respiratory depression in PCA. This report is a postoperative study of 4,000 patients on PCA po stoperatively. Nine of these patients experienced respiratory problems while on PCA. The respiratory depressions were associated with drug i nteractions, continuous narcotic infusion, nurse- or physician-control led analgesia and inappropriate use of PCA by patients. This report id entified the common precipitating factors in PCA-associated respirator y depression and its prevention.