ABSTRACT
Postoperative pain was treated by epidural administration of 30 to 50 mg pethidine (5 mg X ml-1) in a group of 36 patients who had undergone retropubic prostatectomy. Surgery was carried out under epidural anaesthesia with lidocaine. Pain was assessed by means of the visual analogue scale. A general study of the effects of injections and reinjections showed that analgesia thus obtained was excellent at the first hour after injection and lasted 3 to 5 h. The effect of the first postoperative injection on spontaneous pain was studied in 14 patients. Statistical analysis (Wilcoxon test) demonstrated that the fall in pain score was significant at the first and third hours after injection, but not significant at the fifth hour. The analgesia to that pain produced by coughing was studied in 11 patients. There was a significant decrease in pain at the first hour after injection; differences in pain scores at the third hour were not significant. No noticeable side-effect was observed. It was concluded that low doses of epidural pethidine were efficient on postoperative pelvic abdominal pain, but that doses should be increased if painless coughing was required.
