Clinical significance of pre-emptive analgesia with epidural morphine

AIM To investigate the clinical value of preemptive analgesia with epidural morphine. METHODS 69 patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery with epidural anesthesia were randomized into two groups (Groups I and II) and were injected with 2 mg of morphine in 5 mL normal saline via epidural catheter. Group Ⅰreceived the injection epidurally at the end of surgery and Group Ⅱreceived the injection after epidural blockade disappeared. RESULTS The analgesic duration and segmental numbers of the two groups were similar. The percentages of excellent and good analgesic effects were 100.0% in the two groups. In the incidence of receiving other analgesic medication and nausea, vomitting, itching, there was no difference between the two groups during the postoperative 48 h observation. The incidences of urine retention in the two groups were 42.1% and 12.9% respectively ( P 0.05). CONCLUSION The preemptive analgesia with epidural morphine is not necessarily more advantageous than the postoperative analgesia. Instead, it might increase the incidence of urine retention.