Zomepirac as an analgesic premedication: a comparison of three dosage regimens

Three regimens of oral zomepirac premedication - 100 mg and 200 mg administered one hour preoperatively, and 100 mg administered 30 minutes preoperatively - were compared in terms of the control of postoperative pain. Primary outcomes were postoperative analgesic requirements, pain intensities and side effects. Sixty patients undergoing laparoscopic sterilization by Fallop ring were studied, using a double blind randomized design. All patients received a standardized general anaesthetic in which narcotic supplementation was avoided. Zomepirac 100 mg, when administered 30 minutes preoperatively, was the preferred regimen in terms of postoperative remedication rates, pain intensity, and side effects. However, the overall rate of remedication was high and was probably a result of the severe pain experienced by these patients in the early postoperative period. Plasma levels of zomepirac at termination of anaesthesia were consistent with the differences in remedication profiles and showed significant correlations with initial postoperative pain intensity, as assessed by an ordinal descriptive scale (r = 0.431, p = 0.025) and time to remedication (r = 0.541, p = 0.004), thus adding validity to the model.