[Evaluation of buprenorphine hydrochloride suppositories for postoperative pain relief]

An analgesic is often administered upon the occurrence of pain following surgery. Buprenorphine hydrochloride suppository (0.2 mg) was given immediately postoperatively to patients who had undergone surgery under general anesthesia. Post-operative pain has been observed after 782 +/- 41 minutes (n = 148, mean +/- SE) in the patients with suppository and 127 +/- 18 minutes (n = 57) in the control group (P less than 0.01). Analgesics were given to 68% of the control group within 2 hours, while it was given to 14% of the study group. Further 57% of the latter did not complain of any pain after 20 hours. The pharmacokinetics of buprenorphine was studied in 7 patients. Intrarectal administration of 0.2 mg buprenorphine suppository just after surgery had a sufficient analgesic action and did not induce any adverse reactions of any clinical importance.