BACKGROUND High rates of uncontrolled pain in critically ill patients remain common. Patient-controlled analgesia is more effective than traditional intravenous as-needed dosing regimens for managing postoperative pain in older children and adults. OBJECTIVE To determine whether pain-related clinical outcomes in patients from age 10 years to adult following cardiac surgery are improved by usi...

In this retrospective study, data of 2,435 patients who received fentanyl and ropivacaine-based patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) for pain relief after elective surgery under general or spinal anesthesia were reviewed. Differences in postoperative pain, incidence of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)-related adverse effects, and risk factors for the need for rescue analgesics for 48 ...

OBJECTIVE To study the awakening of the elderly patients from propofol intravenous general anesthesia or sevoflurane inhalation general anesthesia combined with epidural block after radical gastric cancer surgery. METHOD Eighty cases receiving selective radical surgery for gastric cancer were included. They were aged 65-78 years and classified as ASA grade I-II. Using a random number table, t...

This survey addresses the structure and function of the acute pain services (APS) in the UK 10 years after its initial commencement. APS is now available in many hospitals (89.4%). The APS team consists mainly of anaesthetists, occasionally includes nurses and pharmacists, and rarely physiotherapists and psychologists. Anaesthetists, mainly, cover the out-of-hours service and nurses only occasi...

Despite the increase in surgical volumes of live liver donation, there has been very little documentation of the postoperative pain experience. The primary aim of this study was to examine the difference in acute postoperative pain intensity and adverse effects between patients who received intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) or patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) for pai...

BACKGROUND Surgery for bone malignancy is associated with intense postoperative pain. Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) and intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) are used currently for postoperative pain control. METHODS The degree of pain control after resection of bone malignancy under combined general and epidural anesthesia followed postoperatively by prospectively ...

Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA) has become accepted as an important means of self-regulated relief from post-surgical pain. In commonly used PCA systems, patients use a hand-held push-button to indicate the presence of pain and initiate a predetermined bolus of drug infusion. A disadvantage of this system is that no means is provided to accommodate variations in the intensity of pain or the ...