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A comparison of nalbuphine and meperidine in treatment of postoperative pain

1987; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 34; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/bf03014350

1496-8975

Ernest Hew, Kathy Foster, Robert Gordon, Edward Hew-Sang,

Pain Management and Opioid Use

The analgesic efficacy and side effect profile of nalbuphine 20 mg IV and of nalbuphine 40 mg IV were compared to those of meperidine 75 mg 1M in the immediate postoperative period. Pain intensity, pain relief, additional analgesic requirements and the overall acceptability of the treatment were recorded for 150 patients. No significant differences were found between the groups for any of the efficacy variables. Peak analgesic effects occurred at 15 minutes in both nalbuphine groups and at 30 minutes in the meperidine group. The mean time to additional analgesic medication was approximately 207 minutes in each group. The incidence of nausea and vomiting with meperidine was 22 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval 10 to 34 per cent) and with nalbuphine 20 mg the incidence was two per cent (95%Cl -2 to 6 per cent). This difference was significant (p< 0.01). The difference between nalbuphine 40 mg (10 per cent, 95%CI 1 to 19 per cent) and meperidine, was not considered statistically significant (p = 0.17). The analgesic efficacy of nalbuphine 20 mg was indistinguishable from that of nalbuphine 40 mg and from that of meperidine 75 mg. The significantly lower incidence of nausea and vomiting with nalbuphine is a major advantage for a recovery room analgesic.