Dj. Dingus et al., BUPRENORPHINE VERSUS MORPHINE FOR PATIENT-CONTROLLED ANALGESIA AFTER CHOLECYSTECTOMY, Surgery, gynecology & obstetrics, 177(1), 1993, pp. 1-6
Buprenorphine is an opioid agonist-antagonist that has emerged as an o
ption for postoperative analgesia. We compared the postoperative hospi
tal course of patients undergoing open cholecystectomy who received bu
prenorphine hydrochloride with those who received morphine sulfate. Pa
tients in both groups administered the analgesic using a patient-contr
olled analgesia infusion device. Comparison of the two groups demonstr
ated no difference with respect to clinical indicators of intestinal m
otility, visual analog pain scores and hospitalization period. Postope
rative nausea occurred more frequently in the buprenorphine group, but
the difference was not significant. We concluded that the patient-con
trolled analgesia device is a valuable tool for comparing different an
algesics. Both analgesics tested provide adequate analgesia with a sim
ilar postoperative course.