Open AccessThe Efficacy of Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia After Intracranial Surgery of the Posterior Fossa
Author(s) -
Athir Morad,
Bradford D. Winters,
Robert Stevens,
Elizabeth White,
Jon Weingart,
Myron Yaster,
Allan Gottschalk
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
anesthesia and analgesia/anesthesia and analgesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.404
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1526-7598
pISSN - 0003-2999
DOI - 10.1213/ane.0b013e31823f0c5a
Subject(s) - medicine , anesthesia , fentanyl , analgesic , sedation , confidence interval , randomized controlled trial , adverse effect , surgery , glasgow coma scale , pain scale
Surgery of the posterior fossa often produces intense postoperative pain. However, this pain is infrequently treated because of concern that opioid administration may mask the postoperative neurologic examination and/or produce hypercarbia. In this prospective, randomized controlled trial, we sought to determine whether IV patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) would lead to reductions in postoperative pain after neurosurgical procedures of the posterior fossa compared with conventional IV nurse-administered as-needed (PRN) therapy.