Postspinal analgesic effect of transdermal fentanyl patch (2.5 mg and 5 mg) in abdominal hysterectomy: A randomized double-blind control study

Abstract

Background and Aims: The use of transdermal patches to deliver drugs systemically for postoperative analgesia offers lots of pharmacological and nonpharmacological advantages over the conventional enteral and parenteral drug therapies. Aim of this study was to assess the difference in mean duration and quality of postspinal analgesia in patients underwent elective abdominal hysterectomy. Methods: Sixty patients of American Society of Anesthesiologists Grade I and II undergoing elective abdominal hysterectomy were randomized into three groups of 20 each using chit in box method (Group I control, Group II 2.5 mg fentanyl patch, and Group III 5 mg fentanyl patch). The ANOVA test and post hoc test were used for continuous data and Chi-square test was used for count data. Results: The mean difference of visual analog scale score were significantly low in Group III and Group II (P = 0.00). The mean total duration of analgesia was more in Group III and Group II (P = 0.00). The requirement of rescue analgesic dose was significantly low in Group II and no rescue analgesic needed in Group III (P = 0.00). No significant side effects were noted. Conclusions: Transdermal fentanyl patch (TFP) (50 mcg/h) provides better postoperative analgesia than TFP (25 mcg/h) and placebo patch with significant reduction of requirement of rescue analgesic dose.

Keywords

• Analgesia
• fentanyl
• transdermal patch