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BJA Advance Access published online on July 17, 2008
British Journal of Anaesthesia, doi:10.1093/bja/aen213
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© The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2008. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Combination of opioid agonist and agonist–antagonist: patient-controlled analgesia requirement and adverse events among different-ratio morphine and nalbuphine admixtures for postoperative pain

Y.-C. Yeh, T.-F. Lin, F.-S. Lin, Y.-P. Wang, C.-J. Lin and W.-Z. Sun*

Department of Anaesthesiology, National Taiwan University Hospital, No. 7, Chung San South Road, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

* Corresponding author. E-mail: wzsun{at}ntu.edu.tw

Background: Nalbuphine, a mixed agonist–antagonist opioid, has a potential to attenuate the mu-opioid effects and to enhance the kappa-opioid effects. However, when morphine and nalbuphine are mixed together, the clinical interactions in different combining ratios on analgesic effect and adverse events are unknown.

Methods: This randomized, double-blind controlled study investigated five different combining ratios of morphine and nalbuphine in 311 patients undergoing gynaecologic operations. The concentrations [morphine (mg ml–1)]/[nalbuphine (mg ml–1)] were 1/0 in Group 1, 0.75/0.25 (ratio 1:3) in Group 2, 0.5/0.5 (ratio 1:1) in Group 3, 0.25/0.75 (ratio 3:1) in Group 4, and 0/1 in Group 5. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) requirement, postoperative pain, and adverse events were evaluated throughout the postoperative 24 h period.

Results: Twenty-four hour PCA requirements were similar among the five groups. Verbal rating scores for pain were statistically higher in Groups 2 and 4 than in Group 3. The incidences of pruritus were higher in Group 1 (15.6%) than in Group 2 (6.2%), Group 3 (3.4%), Group 4 (1.6%), and Group 5 (0%). The incidences and severity of dizziness, nausea, and vomiting were not significantly different.

Conclusions: The interaction between morphine and nalbuphine in PCA admixture on analgesia is additive. Combinations of morphine and nalbuphine in PCA can decrease the incidence of pruritus, and the antipruritus effect is ratio-dependent. This may provide a novel combination strategy of opioid agonist and agonist–antagonist for postoperative pain management after gynaecologic surgery.

Keywords: analgesia, patient-controlled; analgesia, postoperative; analgesics opioid, morphine; analgesics opioid, nalbuphine


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Inaccurate citation should have been evident
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British Journal of Anaesthesia, 3 Nov 2008 [Full text]
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