The use of analgesia for AAP does not mask clinical findings nor does it delay diagnosis.
Surgeons are reluctant to use analgesics during the diagnostic process and clinical evaluation of patients with AAP where there may be the possible requirement of surgical intervention. Generally, the fear is that analgesia can mask clinical findings and cause a delay in the diagnosis. Some reports suggest that the use of opioid analgesics in patients with AAP is not associated with masking the clinical picture or delaying the diagnosis.
Hence the research question of this review is: Does available evidence support the use of opioid analgesics in patients with AAP during the diagnostic process?
The aim of this review is to determine whether the evidence available to date supports the use of opioid analgesics in patients with AAP during the diagnostic process.
Clinical trials were performed, in which the use of any analgesic regime with opioids was compared to a placebo administered in the diagnosis process prior to decision-making in adult subjects with AAP, with no limitation on gender. The valued outcomes were: change in the intensity of the pain, change in the patient’s comfort level, time necessary to formulate diagnosis, time necessary to operate (in the applicable cases), rate of correct decision-making, error rate in the treatment undertaken, hospital stay and morbidity.