HOW EFFECTIVE IS PATIENT-CONTROLLED ANALGESIA - A RANDOMIZED COMPARISON OF 2 PROTOCOLS FOR PAIN RELIEF DURING OOCYTE RECOVERY

Although the conventional method of pain relief during outpatient oocy te recovery involves physician-administered drugs, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) offers an alternative technique with the potential to give women more control over peroperative analgesia. We conducted a pr ospective randomized study to compare the effect of fentanyl administe red either through a PCA delivery system or by a physician. Thirty-nin e women were randomized to PCA during egg collection while 42 were all ocated to receive intermittent doses administered by a physician. Pain was evaluated by means of a 100 mm linear analogue scale. The mean (S D) pain score in the PCA group was 38.5 (19.8) while in the other grou p it was 46.1 (21.3) (p =0.1). In the PCA group, 64% of women felt ver y satisfied with their analgesia as compared with 57% in the non-PCA g roup (P=0.6). Among the PCA users, 39% of demands were successful. Sig nificantly more fentanyl (97.5 mu g) was used in the PCA group than in the other group (84.6 mu g) (P = 0.03). Though intraoperative PCA wit h fentanyl is an effective alternative to physician-administered techn iques, many women still fell the need for more analgesia during the pr ocedure.