Elektif Sezaryen Doğum Sonrasi Postoperatif Ağri Gideriminde Meperidin ve Tramadolün Karșilaștirilmasi: Bir Prospektif Randomize Çalișma Comparison of Meperidine and Tramadol in Postoperative Pain Management Following Elective Cesarean Births: A Prospective Randomized Study

AIM: Although meperidine and tramadol are widely used after cesarean sections in many centers, comparative clinical studies are rare. Therefore, we designed a prospective randomized study to compare tramadol and meperidine following elective cesarean births. METHODS: From September 2009 to May 2010, 101 women who had elective cesarean section were included in the study. The women were allocated into meperidine and tramadol groups. There were 51 women in meperidine group and 50 women in tramadol group. Both agents were used in 50mg doses at the fi rst hour following the termination of the anesthesia. Visual analogue scale was used for pain scoring at the 1 st ,4 th ,8 th ,12 th and 24 th hours following the initial analgesic dose. If the pain scores were higher than 4, an additional dose of 25 mg was supplied for each agent. All the participants were observed for nausea, vomiting and other side effects during visual analogue scale scorings. Means and standard deviations were calculated for demographic data. The parameters of visual analogue scale scores, additional dose requirements and the side effects were compared in the two groups by using independent variations Student t test. p value 0.05). During the comparison of the parameters of visual analogue scale pain score, nausea, vomiting, itching and the requirements for additional doses, the two groups did not show signifi cant differences from each other at 1 st ,4 th ,8 th ,12 th and 24 th hours (p>0.05), although tramadol group had higher pain scores and meperidine group had higher nausea, vomiting and itching rates. CONCLUSION: Intramuscular tramadol and meperidine have similar analgesic effi cacy and side effects following elective cesarean births. Both agents can be substituted for each other and additional dose requirements are higher in the early postoperative hours in both groups.