Pharmacologic Methods for Preventing Pruritus in Patients Receiving Intrathecal Opioids for Cesarean Delivery

Katrina Vice-O'Con1, Paul N Austin2, Marilyn A Pugh3

  • 1is co-owner of Natchitoches Anesthesia Associates LLC. She practices at Natchitoches Regional Medical Center in Natchitoches, Louisiana. At the time this article was written, she was a doctoral student in the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice program at Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, Texas.

AANA Journal
|October 2, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Pruritus, a common side effect of neuraxial opioids during cesarean delivery, can be effectively prevented by mixed opioid agonist-antagonists and dopaminergic receptor antagonists. Other medications like antihistamines and corticosteroids were found ineffective for preventing opioid-induced pruritus.

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