Is multimodal analgesia as effective as postoperative patient-controlled analgesia following upper extremity surgery?

The present prospective study compared the clinical outcomes between a multimodal analgesia group and a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) group for postoperative pain control in upper extremities surgery.

Multimodal analgesia including pre-emptive analgesic can provide similar or superior analgesic effects and a lower incidence of adverse reactions than PCA following upper extremity surgery.

Sixty-one patients undergoing upper extremity surgery were randomized to 2 perioperative analgesic groups (multimodal analgesia and PCA). We compared the clinical outcomes: use of additional pain rescue, opioid-related complication rate, and patient's satisfaction between the 2 groups.

No significant differences on the resting and exercise pain scores between the two groups. Also, there were no differences regarding additional pain rescue during postoperative day (POD) 1, 2 and achievement of rehabilitation protocol in both groups. However, use of additional pain rescue in PCA group was increased significantly after PCA removal. Moreover, there was significant difference in the incidence of opioid-related complications on operation day and at POD 1. At discharge, multimodal analgesia group showed significantly greater satisfaction than PCA group.

Perioperative pain management following upper extremity surgery through the multimodal analgesia could be an acceptable alternative method that can provide good results.