Post-operative Pain Relief by PCA v/s Oral Tramadol in Cardiac Surgery

Pain relief is pivotal in anaesthesiology practice. Postoperative cardiac surgical patients need good pain relief for haemodynamic stability, early extubation, cooperation for chest physiotherapy and prevention of pulmonary dysfunction; thus reducing and prevention of pulmonary the ICU stay. This prospective study was carried out is 50 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) to assess postoperative pain relief with patient controlled analgesia (PCA) tramadol as compared to oral tramadol after extubation. Visual analogue scale for pain relief, tidal volumes by spirometry, arterial blood gas, and oxygen saturations were the parameters used to compare both groups. [Study group(Group I) -receiving PCA tramaol and Control group (Group II) -receiving oral tramadol]. PCA tramadol was found to be very effective after 4 hrs post-operatively.