Pyrazolones in the treatment of postoperative pain.

The aim pursued in postoperative analgesia is to mobilize patients, to prevent thrombo-embolism, to improve subjective well-being, and to reduce the stress reaction caused by pain. In sufficiently high doses, metamizol is equally as suitable for the treatment of postoperative traumatic pain as are opioids. Comparative studies provide evidence that metamizol is no less potent in its action than pethidine, and that in cases of pain in the head and neck region it is superior to buprenorphine in its usual dose. It can also be used to supplement opioid medication where this does not produce satisfactory analgesia. In patients with a history of drug abuse, metamizol is in fact the drug of choice for immediate postoperative analgesic treatment.