Zaka U Khan, Javaid Iqbal, Hosny Saleh, Abeer Mohamed Eldeek.
Intravenous paracetamol is as effective as morphine in knee arthroscopic day surgery procedures.
Pak J Med Sci Jan ;23(5):851-3.

Objectives: To conduct a prospective randomized study comparing the analgesic effect of Intravenous Paracetamol with Intravenous Morphine in postoperative pain control of patients undergoing knee arthroscopic surgery as day cases. Methodology: Eighty four patients were randomised into two groups on the basis of the last digit of their medical number. Odd numbers were given Paracetamol (Group-I) and even Morphine (Group-II). All patients underwent Examination under Anaesthesia (E.U.A) and knee arthroscopy ± a partial menisectomy as day cases and had to stay of a minimum of 4 hours post surgery. A standardize General Anaesthesia was given to both groups. An intra-articular injection of 20mls of 0.5% Marcaine was given to all patients. Postoperative pain was assessed up to 4 hours using the Verbal Rating Scale (V.R.S.). The adverse effects of the drugs were also observed. Results: Of 84 patients, 76 were males and 8 females. The age range was from 18 to 69 years, weighing from 55 to 90kg. Paracetamol (Group-I) had 43 patients and there were 41 patients in the Morphine (Group-II) Group. The results according to VRS, from 0 to 4 hours showed no difference in the analgesic effect of the two groups, but much less adverse effect were noted in Group-I. Conclusion: In our study both intravenous Paracetamol and Intravenous Morphine seems to have the same analgesic effect. However, side effects with Intravenous Paracetamol were much less.

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