Premium
The effects of single‐dose tramadol on post‐operative pain and morphine requirements after coronary artery bypass surgery
Author(s) -
But A. K.,
Erdil F.,
Yucel A.,
Gedik E.,
Durmus M.,
Ersoy M. O.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.2007.01275.x
Subject(s) - medicine , tramadol , anesthesia , morphine , visual analogue scale , saline , coronary artery bypass surgery , patient controlled analgesia , intensive care unit , analgesic , artery , surgery
Aim: To investigate the effects of a single dose of tramadol administered prior to extubation on post‐operative pain and morphine consumption after coronary artery bypass surgery. Methods: Patients were randomized post‐operatively into two groups (group T, n = 30; group P, n = 30). The technique of anaesthesia was standardized for all patients. The patients in group T received intravenous tramadol, 1 mg/kg, and the patients in group P received 2 ml of saline 0.9%, both approximately 1 h before extubation. After extubation, all patients were allowed to use the morphine patient‐controlled analgesia (PCA) device for 24 h post‐operatively. Post‐operative data were recorded in the cardiac intensive care unit at 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, 12 h and 24 h after extubation by the same anaesthesiologist, who had no knowledge of the groups, and the side‐effects were also evaluated. Results: In group P, the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were found to be higher 30 min ( P < 0.01), 1 h ( P < 0.01), 2 h ( P < 0.01) and 4 h ( P < 0.05) after extubation. The patient comfort scores were higher in group T 30 min ( P < 0.01), 1 h ( P < 0.05), 2 h ( P < 0.01) and 4 h ( P < 0.01) after extubation. The total morphine consumption was higher in group P at all evaluation times ( P < 0.01), and the numbers of PCA demands and boluses were also higher in group P ( P < 0.01). Conclusions: The study demonstrated that a single dose of tramadol administered prior to extubation following coronary artery bypass surgery is associated with a decrease of up to 25% in morphine consumption, a decrease in the VAS scores and an improvement in patient comfort within the first 4 h post‐operatively.