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Assessment of the Analgesic Effect of Remifentanil using Three Pain Models in Healthy K orean Volunteers: A Randomized, Controlled Study
Author(s) -
Kim TaeEun,
Kim KyuPyo,
Shin Donghoon,
Chung YongJu,
Price Jeffrey,
Mistry Prafull,
Jang InJin,
Yu KyungSang
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1742-7843
pISSN - 1742-7835
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-7843.2011.00849.x
Subject(s) - remifentanil , analgesic , placebo , anesthesia , threshold of pain , medicine , pain tolerance , confidence interval , propofol , alternative medicine , pathology
Quantitative pain assessment in human beings is useful for developing new analgesics. This study assessed the analgesic effect of remifentanil in 20 healthy K orean men using three pain models to investigate whether these models can be used in A sians. The study was a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, two‐way cross‐over study. The subjects received intravenous remifentanil with doses starting at 0.01 μg/kg/min. and increasing by 0.01 μg/kg/min. up to 0.10 μg/kg/min. in one session; they received placebo in another session. Heat pain thresholds were assessed at dose levels of 0.02, 0.05, 0.08 and 0.10 μg/kg/min. Pressure pain threshold and tolerance and mechanical pain threshold were assessed at 0.08 μg/kg/min. Remifentanil dose‐dependently increased the heat pain threshold. The differences (95% confidence interval) between remifentanil and placebo were 1.54° C (0.78, 2.31), 1.82° C (1.11, 2.54) and 2.47° C (1.55, 3.38) at 0.05, 0.08 and 0.10 μg/kg/min. remifentanil, respectively. Remifentanil conferred a significantly higher pressure pain threshold and tolerance than placebo ( p = 0.0001). There was a trend of increasing mechanical pain threshold with remifentanil, although it was not statistically significant. The results suggest that heat pain and pressure pain models are valid in E ast A sians for assessing analgesic effects.