Effect of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) on postoperative pain in patients undergoing surgery for oral and maxillofacial tumors

We retrospectively evaluated the usefulness of intravenous paticnt-controllcd analgesia (IV-PCA) on postoperative pain in patients undergoing surgery for oral and maxillofacial tumors in our hospital over the past 2 years. Thirteen patients who used IV-PCA with fentanyl following the removal of oral and maxillofacial tumors and/or reconstruction (> =4 operative hours) during the study period were recruited for the study (IV-PCA group). Thirteen patients who did not use IV-PCA following the same kinds of surgeries lasting over 4 hours during the same period served as a control group (non-IV-PCA group). The numeric rating scale of pain (NRS) was used as a pain score. The maximum NRS and postoperative complications until 24 hours after surgery were compared between the groups. For the statistical analysis, we used the unpaired t-Test, the Mann-Whitney test, or the chi-square test I a significant result was defined as p<0.05. No significant differences in the age, sex, height, weight, body mass index, duration of operation, or method of anesthesia were observed between the groups. The rate of patients with a maximum NRS of 4 or greater until 24 hours after surgery was significantly lower in the IV-PCA group than in the non-IV-PCA group. The occurrence of nausea and/or vomiting was noted in both groups, but there was no difference in the rate of occurrence between the groups. Furthermore, no severe complications occurred in the IV-PCA group, resulting in the discontinuation of IV-PCA. These results suggest that IV-PCA with fentanyl is a useful method against postoperative pain following surgery for oral and maxillofacial tumors.