[Clinical aspects of analgesia with intravenous paracetamol in the early postoperative period]

Abstract

This open one-center study included 40 patients operated on the abdomen and chest, who had moderate resting pain in the immediate postoperative hours. Paracetamol was used as a dropwise intravenous 1-g infusion for 10-15 min; the dose of the agent was 4 g. The interval of paracetamol re-infusion was not early than 4 hours. If additional analgesia was required, opioid analgesics (promedol, tramadol) were administered. As a whole, assessment of analgesia within 24 hours showed excellent and good results reported by patients in 85% of cases; and in 71% of the patients the intensity of postoperative pain was less than they had expected before surgery. The use of opioid analgesics was required in 65% of the patients and 25% did not need these agents. The remaining 10% of the patients received a combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, paracetomol, and opioids. Postoperative analgesia based on the intravenous infusion of paracetamol in a single dose of 1 g (4 g/day) caused a reduction in the intensity and duration of pain. The intravenous formulation of paracetamol should be regarded as one of the essential nonopioid components of multimodality therapy for pain in patients in the early postoperative period.