Intravenous acetaminophen for acute postoperative pain in adults

Record ID 32015000350
English
Authors' recommendations: Over 50 million inpatient surgeries are performed each year in the United States. Despite advances in pain management, and the development of novel drugs and delivery mechanisms, up to 70% of patients have persistent acute pain after surgery. Ideally, postoperative analgesics should be inexpensive, easy to administer, and offer rapid onset, few adverse effects, and little potential for interaction with other drugs. Therapies for perioperative pain include the medications acetaminophen, opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), selective inhibitors of cyclo-oxygenase-2, ketamine, aspirin, and nonpharmacologic therapies. Opioids have side effects that can be dose limiting such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, decreased gastrointestinal motility, urinary retention, sedation, confusion, and respiratory depression. NSAIDs are contraindicated in patients with renal impairment and may cause bleeding, platelet dysfunction, renal toxicity, and gastrointestinal ulcers. The inadequate control of postoperative pain increases morbidity and can prolong the hospital stay. Oral acetaminophen has been in use for more than 60 years and has a well-established safety profile. While effective, oral or rectal administration of acetaminophen may be contraindicated or impractical, and both may be complicated by unpredictable plasma levels. Opioids that are often used for acute postoperative pain are known to interfere with uptake of oral medications. Alternatives are needed to augment current multimodal analgesic regimens.
Details
Project Status: Completed
Year Published: 2014
URL for published report: The report may be purchased from: http://www.hayesinc.com/hayes/crd/?crd=17427
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: United States
MeSH Terms
  • Acetaminophen
  • Pain, Postoperative
  • Adult
  • Pain Measurement
  • Pain Management
Contact
Organisation Name: HAYES, Inc.
Contact Address: 157 S. Broad Street, Suite 200, Lansdale, PA 19446, USA. Tel: 215 855 0615; Fax: 215 855 5218
Contact Name: saleinfo@hayesinc.com
Contact Email: saleinfo@hayesinc.com
Copyright: 2014 Winifred S. Hayes, Inc
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.