[Clinical use of sublingual buprenorphine hydrochloride for analgesia in the early postoperative period].

Analgesic efficacy and safety of sublingual buprenorphine was assessed in 31 patients aged 20 to 79 (20 women) in the postoperative period. Moderate and intensive pain during the first hours after the patients were brought from the operation room were indications for administering the drug. It was used in 26 patients after abdominal surgery (15 through the laparoscopic access and 11 through the laparotomic one) and 5 after other operations. A single dose of buprenorphine was 0.2 to 0.4 mg; if the effect was insufficient during an hour, the dose was repeated. Maximal daily dose was 1.8 mg. If analgesia was insufficient or null, other analgesics were injected. Clinical status was assessed by the intensity of the painful syndrome (according to 4 score scale) before analgesia and during 6 h after drug administration, by the duration of analgesia, daily dose, need in other analgesics, and parameters of systemic hemodynamics (arterial and partial pressure, heart rate, monitoring of HbO2 in capillary blood). The incidence, pattern, and severity of side effects were assessed. Adequate analgesia with buprenorphine was attained in 25 (81%) patients: in 7 (64%) with intensive pain and in 17 (89%) with moderate pain. The mean duration of analgesic effect of buprenorphine was 6.6 +/- 0.6 hours. Side effects (nausea and vomiting) were observed in 2 (6.6%) patients. The drug did not appreciably affect the hemodynamics, nor did it depress respiration. Hence, sublingual buprenorphine is an effective and safe analgesic for postoperative analgesia.