A double-blind comparison of nefopam and placebo in post-operative pain

Nefopam (90 mg), an analgesic, was compared with placebo in a double-blind trial in patients who had undergone total abdominal hysterectomy operations. Analgesic activity was assessed by patients rating their pain before and 1 hour after administration of each treatment, by sequential analysis of patient and observer preference for treatment, and by calculation of the time interval between doses of the two treatments. Nefopam was found by observer preference to be significantly better than placebo in relieving post-operative pain. In patients with severe initial pain, the time between doses after nefopam was significantly longer than after placebo.