Epidural naloxone reduces postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients receiving epidural sufentanil for postoperative analgesia.
BACKGROUND
Epidural opioids have excellent analgesic properties, but their side-effects limit their use in patient-controlled epidural analgesia. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of epidural naloxone on the side-effects of sufentanil, focusing on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in patients undergoing total knee replacement (TKR).


METHODS
After obtaining Institutional Review Board approval and informed consent, 50 patients undergoing unilateral TKR were randomly assigned to receive either sufentanil in ropivacaine alone (Group C, n = 25) or the same solution with naloxone (Group N, n = 25) for their postoperative epidural analgesia. Episodes of PONV and five-point-scaled nausea scores were evaluated at 6, 12, and 24 h after epidural analgesia was started. Visual analogue scale (VAS) score for pain and the incidence of sedation, pruritus, hypotension, and respiratory depression were also evaluated at each of three time points.


RESULTS
The nausea score in Group N was significantly lower than that in Group C. The VAS pain score at rest and on movement were significantly lower in Group N than in Group C at 24 h. Other opioid-induced side-effects were not significantly different.


CONCLUSIONS
Epidural naloxone was effective in reducing PONV induced by epidural sufentanil and additionally enhanced the analgesic effect. Therefore, concomitant infusion of a small dose of epidural naloxone should be considered to reduce PONV, especially in patients at greater risk for PONV.
Kim
M K
MK
Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Nam
S B
SB
Cho
M J
MJ
Shin
Y-S
YS
D000368:Aged; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009270:Naloxone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control*; D020250:Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011537:Pruritus / Q000139:chemically induced; D017409:Sufentanil / Q000009:adverse effects*
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D009270:Naloxone; D017409:Sufentanil