title: Patient-controlled epidural analgesia with morphine or morphine plus ketamine for post-operative pain relief.
abstract: Sixty patients were randomly assigned to two equal groups. Group I received epidural morphine 1 mg after surgery and used a patient-controlled analgesia device programmed to deliver morphine 0. 2 mg h-1, 0.2 mg per bolus. Group II received an epidural loading dose of morphine 1 mg plus ketamine 5 mg and used a patient-controlled analgesia device programmed to deliver morphine 0. 2 mg+ketamine 0.5 mg h-1, morphine 0.2 mg+ketamine 0.5 mg per bolus with a lockout time of 10 min. The mean morphine consumption was 8. 6+/-0.7 mg for group I and 6.2+/-0.2 mg for group II. Although group II utilized significantly less morphine (P < 0.05), pain relief was significantly better in group II than in group I (P < 0.05) in the first 3 h. Vomiting occurred more frequently in group I (26%) than in group II (13%). The frequency and severity of pruritus and level of sedation were similar in the two groups. These findings suggest that patient-controlled epidural analgesia with morphine plus ketamine may provide effective analgesia with a lesser dose of morphine and fewer subsequent side effects, compared with patient-controlled epidural analgesia with morphine alone after lower abdominal surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Y Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chia
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007649:Ketamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011537:Pruritus / Q000139:chemically induced; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014839:Vomiting / Q000139:chemically induced
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D004338:Drug Combinations; D007649:Ketamine; D009020:Morphine