Gallo Susan, DuRand Jacqueline, Pshon Nicole
St Joseph's Hospital, Member of HealthEast Care System, St Paul, MN, USA.
Orthop Nurs. 2008 Mar-Apr;27(2):111-5. doi: 10.1097/01.NOR.0000315625.44137.4f.
The purpose of the study was to compare urinary retention rates following orthopaedic surgery in patients who received low-dose intravenous naloxone while receiving morphine patient-controlled analgesia with patients who did not receive naloxone.
Randomized controlled trial without blinding.
There were 97 participants consenting to the study, 45 were randomly assigned to a control group and 52 assigned to an experimental group. Forty-three patients in the control group and 47 in the experimental group (90 total) completed the study protocol.
Postoperative urinary residuals were lower, patients voided more frequently, and fewer catheterizations were needed when given low-dose naloxone while receiving morphine patient-controlled analgesia. At the same time, naloxone in small doses was found to have negligible effect on overall patient pain control.