European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EFFECTS OF CONTINUOUS FENTANYL INFUSION ON POSTOPERATIVE PAIN IN LUMBAR POSTERIOR FUSION OF ONE INTERVERTEBRAL SPACE - A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Tomoki Nishiyama, MD, PhD*

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Purpose: We evaluated postoperative analgesia of intravenous fentanyl infusion in lumbar posterior fusion of 1 intervertebral space retrospectively. Methods: We selected the patients who received intravenous fentanyl infusion (31 patients, fentanyl group) and who were only in a conventional postoperative analgesic protocol (15 patients, control group) after lumbar posterior fusion of 1 intervertebral space. Fentanyl 20 μg + droperidol 0.2 mg per hour were infused for 24 hours after surgery only in the fentanyl group. As a rescue analgesia when visual analog score (VAS) became 5 or more, analgesic protocol was active. Vital signs, VAS, frequency of rescue analgesics, and side effects were compared between the two groups. Results: The VAS scores were significantly lower in the fentanyl group during study period. Frequency of analgesics was significantly lower in the fentanyl group. Conclusion: Intravenous infusion of fentanyl 20 μg + droperidol 0.2 mg per hour had significant analgesic effect for postoperative 24 hours in lumbar posterior fusion of 1 intervertebral space.

Keywords: Spine surgery, postoperative analgesia, fentanyl.