Analgesia after caesarean section: patient-controlled intravenous morphine vs epidural morphine

In a randomized, double-blind study, conducted in 60 patients after caesarean section, we compared epidural morphine (5 mg) with intravenous morphine patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). Efficacy of pain relief (visual analogue scale), comfort, satisfaction and side-effects were studied. In the PCA group, pain scores were higher (P < 0.005) from the third hour onward. The degree of comfort was similar. Overall satisfaction for the first 24 postoperative hours was higher in the epidural group when assessed on a graded scale from 0 to 10, but equal when assessed using qualitative terms. Haemodynamic and respiratory tolerance were identical without any episodes of respiratory depression or oxygen desaturation in either group. The epidural morphine group showed a higher incidence of pruritus requiring specific treatment (P < 0.005). Nausea was reported to be equal in the two groups. Consumption of morphine was higher in the PCA group. We conclude that epidural morphine analgesia, though of good quality, was associated with more pruritus. Morphine PCA, although producing a lesser degree of analgesia compared to epidural morphine, gave good satisfaction.