Patient-controlled analgesia: Finding a balance between cost and comfort

Despite the growing movement in acute pain management, acute postoperative pain continues to be undermanaged. Although numerous clinical practice guidelines for pain management have been published throughout the last 12 years, inadequate pain relief remains a significant health care issue. Insufficient dosage of analgesics is a common problem, and therapy for those patients still with pain represents a considerable health care dilemma.

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) refers to a process in which patients determine when and how much medication they receive, regardless of analgesic technique. Patient-controlled modalities using intravenous (i.v.) and epidural routes have dramatically improved postoperative pain management. PCA has emerged as an effective way for patients to manage their pain, allowing self-administration of small doses of analgesics to maintain a certain level of pain control. PCA is most commonly delivered via an intravenous or epidural route, and while patient satisfaction is higher with PCA than with conventional methods of analgesic administration, the invasiveness, costs, health care resources, and risk of errors associated with currently available modalities may limit their utility. The overall effectiveness of any analgesic technique depends on both the degree of pain relief and the incidence of side effects or complications. These adverse events of acute pain complicate postoperative recovery and may lead to longer hospital stays, as well as increased health care costs. Several new PCA modalities are being developed to address these limitations. These systems deliver drugs through a variety of routes (for example, transdermal). Most notable is a self-contained, credit card-sized fentanyl transdermal patient-activated system. It provides pain relief therapeutically equivalent to that of standard regimen of morphine i.v. PCA, with pharmacokinetics similar to those of intravenous fentanyl infusion. Fentanyl HCl patient-activated transdermal systems (PATS) may be an effective, noninvasive alternative to currently available i.v. PCA modalities. Whichever drug or device is utilized, the overall success relies on the expert supervision of nurses, pharmacists, and anesthesiologists in an acute pain service.

Current PCA techniques using i.v. or epidural administration have limitations. Development of new technology offering alternative routes for PCA administration is at the forefronts of PCA research.