BUPRENORPHINE VERSUS MORPHINE FOR PATIENT-CONTROLLED ANALGESIA AFTER CHOLECYSTECTOMY

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.