• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.19-22
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• 2005

Background: Most terminal cancer patients suffered from intractable pain. For the treatment of these patients, opioids, via various routes, are usually administered. Continuous epidural opioid, especially morphine, administration is a good method for the management of intractable cancer pain. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 347 terminal cancer patients, who had been treated with continuous epidural morphine infusion, between 1999 and 2004. For the epidural infusion, an epidural catheter was inserted, tunneled subcutaneously and exited from the anterior chest or abdomen. Multiday $Infursor^{(R)}$ (Baxter, 0.5 ml/h) was used for the continuous infusion. Results: Of the 347 patients studied, there were 211 males and 136 females. The mean treatment time was 54.7 days, ranging from 5 to 481 days. The mean starting and termination doses of morphine were 32.4 (for 5 days) and 100.0 mg, respectively. The doubling time of the morphine dose was 26.3 days, corresponded to a 3.8 percent increase per day. Incidental catheter removal was the most common side effect, which occurred 130 times in 61 cases. Conclusions: The procedure of epidural catheterization, with subcutaneous tunneling, was simple and inexpensive. Despite the disadvantages, such as incidental catheter removal, it is a useful method for the control of terminal cancer pain.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.365-369
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• 2014

Spinal epidural lipomatosis (SEL) is a rare disorder, regarded in literature as a consequence of administration of exogenous steroids, associated with a variety of systemic diseases, endocrinopathies and the Cushing's syndrome. Occasionally, SEL may occur in patients not exposed to steroids or suffering from endocrinopathies, namely, idiopathic SEL. Thus far, case studies of SEL among Korean have been published rather sporadically. We reviewed the clinical features of SEL cases, among Koreans with journal review, including this report of three operated cases. According to this study, there were some differences between Korean and western cases. Koreans had higher incidences of idiopathic SEL, predominant involvement in the lumbar segments, very few thoracic involvement and lower MBI, as opposed to westerners.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 1991

Intraspinal alcohol or phenol administration has been used for the treatment of intractable pain due to terminal cancer. It has been alleged to produce good pain relief with minimal complication if performed carefully. We analysed 35 patients who received epidural or subarachnoid neurolytic block out of 83 patients with malignancy who were referrecl to our pain clinic. Most of the patients needed additional treatment modalities including epidural catheterization or systemic narcotic administration. The incidence of complication was high, especially when the neurolytic agents were administered in the lumbar region. This suggest that intraspinal neurolytic block is unreliable and unsafe, although it may temporarily reduce the analgesic requirement.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.87-90
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• 2006

Background: There are many ways to provide superior analgesia for postoperative pain after abdominal surgery of which epidural analgesics with opioids and local analgesics are the most useful. In an effort to maximize the level of analgesia and to minimize the side effects, ketamine, midazolam, clonidine, and adrenalin can be co-administrated as an adjuvant. This study examined the analgesic effect and side effects of midazolam compared with those given an epidural injection of bupivacaine, fentanyl and ketamine. Methods: In a double blind randomized controlled trial, 50 patients received either fentanyl $0.3{\mu}g/kg/h$ and ketamine 0.1 mg/kg/h (Group FK) or fentanyl $0.3{\mu}g/kg/h$, ketamine 0.1 mg/kg/h and midazolam 0.4 mg/h (Group FKM), added to 0.125% of bupivacaine at a rate of as much as 2 ml/h, for patient controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) after low abdominal surgery. Ten minutes before surgery, the patients received either 10 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine with 0.5 mg/kg of ketamine or 10 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine with the same amount of normal saline, added to fentanyl $50{\mu}g$. The pain score and the side effects were recorded at 1, 3, 6, and 24 hours after surgery. Results: There was no difference in the pain score except for the VAS on coughing 1 hour after surgery. FKM group had fewer side effects. Conclusions: There was a better analgesic effect and fewer side effects with the addition of epidural midazolam to bupivacaine and fentanyl with ketamine formula. However, more study on the dose and route of administration will be needed.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.138-141
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• 2005

Background: There have been many attempts to alleviate pain after surgery, but there is no common approach to the control of postoperative pain. The use of epidural opioids, with local anesthetics, has been a widely employed formula to date. Ketamine, an N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, has an excellent analgesic effect. Although there have been many reports on the dose and route of administrating analgesics, there have been few concerning the continuous epidural infusion of ketamine with fentanyl. We designed this study to find the effects of ketamine compared to those of epidurally injected bupivacaine and fentanyl, and used this trial to study any potential side effects. Methods: In a double blind trial, 55 patients received either fentanyl, $0.3{\mu}g/kg/h$ (Group F), or fentanyl, $0.3{\mu}g/kg/h$, and ketamine, 0.1 mg/kg/h (Group FK), added to 0.125% bupivacaine, at rates as high as 2 ml/h, for patient controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) following a transabdominal hysterectomy. Ten minutes before the operation, patients received 10 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine, with either 0.5 mg/kg ketamine or the same amount of normal saline with $50{\mu}g$ fentanyl added. The pain scores and the side effects were recorded at 1, 3, 6 and 24 hour post operation. Results: There were no differences in the pain scores or side effects between the two groups. Conclusions: We failed to find any effect of the addition of epidural ketamine compared to the that of the bupivacaine and fentanyl formula. However, it is suggested that further investigations will be required on the dose and route of administration.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.43-47
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• 1999

Backgroud: Systemic administration of opioid can prolong the duration of epidural anesthesia. The authors examined the effect of nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) on the level of sensory block induced by epidural lidocaine. Methods: Twenty minutes after epidural injection of 2% lidocaine (below 70 years : 20 ml, 70 years and above : 15 ml), the level of sensory block was assessed (2nd stage). Patients were randomly assigned to receive either medical air (control group, n=15) or 50% $N_2O$ in oxygen ($N_2O$ group, n=15) for 10 minutes, the level of block was reassessed (3rd stage). Pateints were given room air (control group) or 100% oxygen for 5 minutes and room air for 5 minutes ($N_2O$ group), and the level of block was reassessed (4th stage). Results: At the 3rd stage, $N_2O$ group showed 4.3 cm cephalad increase in the level of sensory block (p=0.005), but control group revealed 1.43 cm regression. After discontinuation of gas, the level of block regressed in both group (p=0.000). At the 4th stage, $N_2O$ group revealed 3.5 cm cephalad increase (p=0.048) and control group 1.97 cm regression (p=0.001) as compared with the 2nd stage. Conclusions: The level of sensory block induced by epidural lidocaine was significantly increased cephalad by concommitant use of 50% $N_2O$ for 10 minutes.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 1997

Background : Patient-controlled analgesia(PCA) is a safe and effective technique for providing postoperative pain relief. Studies that compare epidural vs intravenous routes of opiate administration show conflicting results. We designed a prospective, randomized, controlled study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of epidural(EPI-PCA) morphine-bupivacaine versus intravenous (IV-PCA) nalbuphine when administered with a PCA system. Methods : Forty healthy women were randomly assigned to receive an epidural bolus of morphine 3 mg and 0.5% bupivacaine 10 ml, followed by a EPI-PCA with 0.01% morphine and 0.143% bupivacane (basal infusion 1 ml/hr, bolus 1 ml, lock-out interval 30 min) or intravenous bolus of nalbuphine 0.1 mg/kg followed by a IV-PCA with nalbuphine(basal infusion 1 mg/hr, bolus 1 ml, lock-out interval 20 min) for pain relief after cesarean delivery. This study was conducted for 2 days after cesarean section to compare the analgesic efficacy, side effects, patient satisfaction either as EPI-PCA or as IV-PCA. Results : EPI-PCA group had significant lower visual analog pain scale(VAS) at immediate postoperative period, whereas no significant difference was observed when pain was assessed at other time sequence. Urinary retention and pruritus were more frequent with EPI-PCA group, although the incidence of other side effects were the same. Conclusions : Although EPI-PCA with morphine-bupivacaine was of significantly lower VAS at immediate postoperative period, IV-PCA with nalbuphine is a safe and effective alternative to EPI-PCA with morphine-bupivacaine for providing pain relief after cesarean delivery. Further studies about IV-PCA with nalbuphine are needed to control the immediate postoperative pain and to further improve effective pain management.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.54-59
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• 1998

Background: Tramadol administered epidurally is known to have one-thirtieth the potency of morphine for treatment of pain following abdominal surgery. We designed a prospective, randomized, controlled study to evaluate the analgesic efficacy and safety of combined epidural infusion of bupivacaine and tramadol with 2-day infusor as ompared to bupivacaine and morphine combined epidural infusion. Methods: Sixty healthy women scheduled for Cesarean delivery were assigned randomly in double- blind fashion: Group 1 (n=20) were given a mixture of morphine 10 mg(1 ml), 0.5% bupivacaine 40 ml and normal saline(NS) 40 ml; Group 2(n=20) a mixture of tramadol 300 mg(6 ml), 0.5% bupivacaine 40 ml and NS 54 ml; Group 3(n=20) or a mixture of tramadol 500 mg(10 ml), 0.5% bupivacaine 50 ml and NS 50 ml, of continuous dose via epidural route following 1% lidocaine 6 ml as bolus dose for 48 hours postoperatively. We evaluated the analgesic efficacy and side effects of these three groups using visual analogue pain scale (VAPS) and verbal rating scale (VRS). Results: VAPS of group 1 and 3 were lower than group 2, and VAPS of group 1 was lower than group 3(12, 24, 36, 48 hours). VRS of group 1 and 3 were lower than group 2 (12, 24, 36 hours). There were incidences of pruritus was 16 patients in group 1. Conclusions: Tramadol does possess the analgesia effect of morphine, but has the added analgesia following increment. Further research to determine the most effective administration method and reguired dosage of tramadol is further needed.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.325-331
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• 2016

This study investigated the antinociceptive effect of epidural tramadol with bupivacaine in 36 healthy Beagle dogs. The dogs were divided into 6 groups; 1) C (control), 2) B (0.5% bupivacaine 0.1 mL/kg), 3) BT0.5 (0.5% bupivacaine 0.1 mL/kg + tramadol 0.5 mg/kg), 4) BT1 (0.5% bupivacaine 0.1 mL/kg + tramadol 1 mg/kg), 5) BT2 (0.5% bupivacaine 0.1 mL/kg + tramadol 2 mg/kg), 6) BT3 (0.5% bupivacaine 0.1 mL/kg + tramadol 3 mg/kg). The epidural injection was performed under isoflurane inhalation, after then, nociceptive block and motor block scores were assessed with physiologic parameters (HR, RR, RT, MAP). BT groups showed significantly longer antinociceptive time than C and B, while motor block time of BT groups were not different from B except BT3. Durations of total nociceptive block of BT2 ($60.83{\pm}19.08min$) and BT3 ($74.17{\pm}8.61min$) were significantly longer than those of BT0.5 ($33.33{\pm}8.76min$) and BT1 ($37.50{\pm}19.43min$), but there was no significant difference between BT2 and BT3. Durations of total motor block in all groups were less than 20 minutes although that of BT3 was significantly longer than B. There were no significant differences in HR, RR, RT, MAP among groups. Consequently, epidural administration of tramadol (2 mg/kg) with 0.5% bupivacaine (0.1 mL/kg) can be used safely and effectively in dogs.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.131-133
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• 1997

Number of elderly patients requiring nerve blocks have been increasing in recent years. We had two elderly patients who suffered stroke one day and three days after lumbar facet joint block and lumbar single epidural block respectively. Both patients due to their advanced age had potential risk factor to suffer one or more of the following; stroke, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Due to our experience with these patients, we suggested the following: (1) Nerve blocks should be reconsidered for elderly patient who posesses a potential risk factor to suffer a stroke. (2) Prior to invasive block administration of mild sedatives or analgesics may provide beneficial effects for patients with hypertension. (3) Adequately informed consent must be fully discussed time of consultation with patient scheduled for nerve block especially for elderly and risky patient.