[Is a portable disposable pump useful in managing postoperative pain?]

In order to find out the effectiveness of continuous epidural infusion with a portable disposable pump (Baxter Infusor) in management of post-operative pain, a comparative study was made on a continuous epidural infusion method with a syringe pump versus a twice-a-day intermittent epidural infusion method. Study 1: With 41 patients who underwent thoracic/abdominal surgery between June, 1991 and September, 1991, researches were conducted on the effects of pain relief, methods for postoperative pain relief and weaning course from confinement to bed. The degree of pain examined at five points--at 4 hours, 12 hours, 16 hours, 24 hours and 28 hours postoperatively--indicated a significantly lower level in the Infusor group, compared with the intermittent infusion group (P less than 0.05). In terms of time required for anodyne administration, the Infusor group required significantly less time compared with the intermittent infusion group (P less than 0.05). As for weaning from bedriddenness, a tendency of earlier weaning was observed in the Infusor group, compared with the other two groups. Study 2: With a total of 37 people who were involved in postoperative management described in Study 1, including 8 surgeons and 29 surgery-ward nurses, an investigation was made through a questionnaire concerning their assessment on the 3 methods of anodyne infusion employed in Study 1. Among doctors, the evaluation of the Infusor method was remarkably high, compared with the intermittent infusion method (P = 0.001). When the syringe pump method and the intermittent method were compared, the evaluation of the syringe pump method was significantly higher (P less than 0.05). The evaluation by nurses, on the other hand, was remarkably higher on the infusion method than on the other two methods (P = 0.0001). Based on the results of the two studies summarized above, the Infusor method is considered to be most effective for pain control among the three methods.