The Effect of Weight-Compensated Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia in Burns

PURPOSE: The pain related to burn is moderate to severe and difficult to control regardless of medications. We evaluated the effect of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) with weight-compensated regimen of fentanyl and ketorolac in burn surgery. METHODS: consecutive 82 patients received IV PCA after burn surgery. They were divided into two groups according to total body surface area% (TBSA%): group I (TBSA> or =25%, n=21) group II (TBSA or =25%) was difficult to control by conventional IV PCA, even through weight-compensated regimen. Pain of burn (TBSA> or =25%) should be controlled by increased dose of analgesics and approaches other than conventional medication.