Double-blind placebo controlled oral analgesic comparison of butorphanol andpentazocine in patients with moderate to severe post-operative pain.

A double-blind, randomized trial was conducted in 120 post-surgical patients to evaluate the oral analgesic activity of butorphanol tartrate (4 mg and 8 mg) and pentazocine HCl (50 mg) as compared to placebo. Both dose of butorphanol as well as pentazocine proved to be significantly (p less than 0-05) more effective than placebo. Butorphanol 4 mg and pentazocine 50 mg were never significantly different from each other, while butorphanol 8 mg was significantly beeter than both butorphanol 4 mg as well as pentazocine 50 mg in several instances, demonstrating a significant dose effect relationship for butorphanol. All of the active treatment provided maximum pain relief within 1 to 2 hours and were effective over 4 hours. In contrast to the other treatments, none of the 8 mg butorphanol patients required remedication during the 4-hour observation period. Generally, the incidence fo side-effects appeared low.