Does Multimodal Analgesia with Acetaminophen, Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs, or Selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors and Patient-controlled Analgesia Morphine Offer Advantages over Morphine Alone?

The authors analyzed data from 52 randomized placebo-controlled trials (4,893 adults) testing acetaminophen, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, or selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors given in conjunction with morphine after surgery. The median of the average 24-h morphine consumption in controls was 49 mg (range, 15-117 mg); it was significantly decreased with all regimens by 15-55%. There was evidence of a reduction in pain intensity at 24 h (1 cm on the 0- to 10-cm visual analog scale) only with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs also significantly reduced the incidence of nausea/vomiting from 28.8% to 22.0% (number needed to treat, 15) and of sedation from 15.4% to…

• YU
  Yale University
• KL
  KU Leuven
• UD
  Université de Genève