Administration of paracetamol versus dipyrone by intravenous patient-controlled analgesia for postoperative pain relief in children after tonsillectomy

Abstract

© 2013 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Justificativa e objetivo: Métodos: Resultados: Conclusões: Background and objective: We compared the efficacy of intravenous (. IV) paracetamol versus dipyrone via patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) for postoperative pain relief in children. Methods: The study was composed of 120 children who had undergone elective tonsillectomy after receiving general anesthesia. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the dosage of postoperative intravenous-patient-controlled analgesia: paracetamol, dipyrone, or placebo. Pain was evaluated using a 0- to 100-mm visual analog scale and 1- to 4-pain relief score at 30min, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, and 24h postoperatively. Pethidine (0.25mgkg-1) was administered intravenously to patients requiring rescue analgesia. Pethidine requirements were recorded during the first 24h postoperatively, and treatment related adverse effects were noted. Results: Postoperative visual analog scale scores were significantly lower with paracetamol group compared with placebo group at 6. h (p. . 0.05). Postoperative pethidine requirements were significantly lower with paracetamol and dipyrone groups compared with placebo group (62.5%, 68.4% vs 90%, p.. 0.05). Conclusions: Paracetamol and dipyrone have well tolerability profile and effective analgesic properties when administered IV-PCA for postoperative analgesia in children after tonsillectomy.