Patient controlled opioid analgesia versus conventional opioid analgesia for controlling postoperative pain

Patients may control postoperative pain by self-administration of intravenous opioids using devices designed for this purpose (patient controlled analgesia or PCA). Postoperative PCA involves self-administration of small doses of opioids (such as morphine) intravenously by means of a programmable pump designed for this purpose. Previous studies have shown that often patients prefer PCA to traditional methods of pain management, such as a nurse administering an analgesic upon a patient's request. This review demonstrated that PCA provided slightly better pain control and increased patient satisfaction when compared with conventional methods. Patients tended to use higher doses of medication with PCA and suffered a higher occurrence of itching, but otherwise adverse effects were similar between groups.