title: The effectiveness of transdermal opioid in the management multiple rib fractures: randomized clinical trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The most commonly observed pathology in chest traumas is rib fracture, and the most important clinical symptom is severe pain.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effectiveness of intramuscular opioid (IMO), intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IVPCA) and the Fentanyl transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) in the management of rib fracture pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective randomized clinical trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our prospective and randomised study, we included 45 patients with a diagnosis of multiple rib fractures. There were three groups and intercostal nerve blockage (ICB) in the first day and oral paracetamol for five days was administered to each group as standard. In Group IMO (n=15), 4×40 mg pethidine HCl was administered to the patients, while in Group IVPCA (n=15) this was 5 μg/mL continuous intravenous fentanyl and was 50 μg fentanyl TTS in Group TTS (n=15). The demographics, injury data and vital signs of the patients were recorded. Pain was scored using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The pain during lying down (VASl) and mobilisation (VASm) was detected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences between the three groups regarding age, sex, the trauma pattern, the number and distribution of costal fracture localisations, the presence of additional pathology, complications, thoracal catheter and the duration of thoracal catheter. No significant difference between the groups regarding systolic and diastolic arterial tension, number of breaths and beats in a minute was observed (p>0.05). We observed an improvement in the mean VAS score after treatment in all three groups. The mean VASl score significantly decreased after treatment in each group (p<0.05). The mean VASl and VASm scores measured on the 1(st), 2(nd), 3(rd), 4(th) and 5(th) days were found to be higher in Group IMO than in Groups IVPCA and TTS; however, these differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the analgesia of patients with multiple rib fractures, TTS administration with ICB showed similar effectiveness with IVPCA administration with ICB. In the management of pain due to multiple rib fractures, TTS administration is a safe, non-invasive and effective procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Okan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Solak
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gürhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oz
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Serdar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kokulu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Solak
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gökçen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Doğan
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hıdır
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esme
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kubilay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ocalan
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Afyon Kocatepe University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elif Doğan
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Baki
keywords: Multiple rib fracture; pain treatment; patient-controlled analgesia; transdermal therapeutic system