THE EFFECT OF SHORT-TERM CONTINUOUS EPIDURAL MORPHINE ON POSTOPERATIVE PAIN AFTER LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY

This study was undertaken to determine whether short-term continuous e pidural analgesia using morphine would relieve pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The authors retrospectively reviewed the clinical da ta of 182 cases who had undergone a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Thes e cases were divided into four groups according to their anesthetic mo des as follows: a control group with general anesthesia only (n = 37); group I, general anesthesia combined with one shot of epidural morphi ne (n = 78); and group II, general anesthesia combined with continuous epidural analgesia using morphine (IIa for 12 h (n = 33); IIb for 8 h (n = 34)), The pain score on a four-category verbal scale and the fre quency of analgesic use were investigated. There n ere no differences in the background characteristics of the patients among the groups, ex cept for the duration of surgery (I vs IIa; P = 0.006), The pain score s were significantly different between the control group and the other groups, The frequency of analgesic use in the control group was also significantly higher than in the other groups, A tendency toward a hig her frequency of analgesic use in group I, compared with that in group s IIa and IIb, was observed, These findings thus suggest that short-te rm continuous epidural analgesia using morphine can effectively reliev e postoperative pain after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy.