Effect of continuous intravenous infusion of flurbiprofen axetil and tramadol hydrochloride for postoperative pain management of laparoscopic colectomy

Abstract In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of continuous intravenous infusion of flurbiprofen axetil (FA) combined with tramadol hydrochloride (TH) for postoperative pain control after laparoscopic colectomy. Fifty patients scheduled for laparoscopic colectomy were randomly assigned to one of the following three groups : the saline group which received saline, the FA alone group which received FA 4 mg kg-1 . 24hr-1, and the FA plus TH group which received FA 4 mg kg-1 . 24 hr-1 and TH 2 mg kg-1 . 24 hr-1 intravenously after bolus injection of FA 50 mg immediately before the end of the operation. We examined the pain scores at 4 and 24 hr, and postoperative analgesic medication use during 0-4, 4-24, and 24-48 hours. Although no significant difference was observed among pain scores for these three groups, the FA plus TH group required the lowest dose of analgesic medication. For lower abdominal incision, the FA plus TH group required the least analgesic medication in 4-48 hr. No significant difference concerning analgesic medication was observed among the three groups for upper abdominal incision. Continuous intravenous injection of FA plus TH is more effective than FA alone for postoperative pain management after laparoscopic colectomy.