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Fentanyl‐induced cough does not depend on injection speed: a randomized study
Author(s) -
Schäpermeier U.,
Hopf H.B.
Publication year - 2008
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.1399-6576.2008.01721.x
Subject(s) - medicine , fentanyl , placebo , anesthesia , cannula , saline , incidence (geometry) , interim analysis , clinical endpoint , randomized controlled trial , surgery , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , optics
Background: The aim of the study was to investigate whether the incidence of cough after intravenous fentanyl depends on the speed of injection. Methods: With ethics committee approval, 476 ASA class I–III nonsmoking patients free of bronchial hyperreactivity and respiratory tract infection undergoing general anaesthesia for elective surgery were randomized to either 1.5 μg/kg fentanyl injected over 2, 5 or 10 s or placebo (saline) via a periphereal intravenous cannula. The primary endpoint was the incidence of cough within 5 min after completion of injection. Results: The study was terminated for futility after enrollment of 476 patients because an interim analysis yielded an incidence of cough of 3%, 3% and 6% in the three fentanyl groups, respectively, and of 2% in the placebo group, with no difference between groups ( P =0.374, χ 2 test for cough between fentanyl and placebo groups). Conclusions: Under the conditions of our study, the incidence of cough after 1.5 μg/kg fentanyl injected intravenously over 2, 5 or 10 s was between 3% and 6%, unrelated to the speed of injection and not different from placebo.