Double-Blind Comparison of Butorphanol and Meperidine in the Treatment of Post-Surgical Pain

The efficacy and safety of butorphanol tartrate were compared in a double-blind manner to meperidine hydrochloride in 299 patients with moderate to severe post-operative pain. When analgesia was requested, patients were medicated with butorphanol (1.0 or 2.0 mg) or meperidine (40 or 80 mg) administered intramuscularly according to a pre-determined computer-generated random schedule. Evaluation of pain relief data showed no significant differences between butorphanol and meperidine at the low doses and at the high dose levels. Onset of analgesia, peak effect (thirty to sixty minutes) and duration of action (approximately four hours) were comparable. Thus, the data support a 40:1 butorphanol to meperidine potency ratio. There was little difference between the drugs with respect to adverse reactions, effects on vital signs, and variations in laboratory values. The incidence of nausea and vomiting was more common in the meperidine-treated patients. Respiratory depression occurred in three patients who received meperidine and in one to whom butorphanol was administered. One meperidine-treated patient experienced hallucinations, a phenomenon not observed following butorphanol. On the basis of these data, butorphanol appears to be a safe, well tolerated and highly effective analgesic for the treatment of moderate to severe postoperative pain.

[1]  W. C. North,et al.  Comparison of Butorphanol and Pentazocine as Postoperative Analgesics , 1979, Southern medical journal.

[2]  R. Noveck,et al.  Comparison of analgesia by intravenous butorphanol and meperidine in patients with post-operative pain , 1977, Canadian Anaesthetists' Society journal.

[3]  A. Delpizzo.  Double-blind evaluation of butorphanol and meperidine given intramuscularly before anesthesia. , 1976, Current therapeutic research, clinical and experimental.

[4]  R. Noveck,et al.  Butorphanol tartrate: 2. Safety and efficacy in balanced anaesthesia , 1976, Canadian Anaesthetists' Society journal.

[5]  R. Noveck,et al.  Butorphanol tartrate: 1. Safety and efficacy in multidose control of postoperative pain , 1976, Canadian Anaesthetists' Society journal.

[6]  F. Caruso,et al.  Intramuscular butorphanol and meperidine in postoperative pain , 1976, Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.

[7]  A. Delpizzo.  Butorphanol, a new intravenous analgesic: double-blind comparison with morphine sulfate in postoperative patients with moderate or severe pain. , 1976, Current therapeutic research, clinical and experimental.

[8]  M. S. Gilbert,et al.  Butorphanol: A Double-Blind Comparison with Pentazocine in Post-Operative Patients with Moderate to Severe Pain , 1976, The Journal of international medical research.

[9]  H. Nagashima,et al.  Respiratory and circulatory effects of intravenous butorphanol and morphine , 1976, Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.

[10]  G. Corssen,et al.  Butorphanol and Morphine: A Double‐Blind Comparison of Their Parenteral Analgesic Activity , 1976, Anesthesia and analgesia.

[11]  J. Buyniski,et al.  The pharmacology of butorphanol, a 3,14-dihydroxymorphinan narcotic antagonist analgesic. , 1976, Archives internationales de pharmacodynamie et de therapie.

[12]  R. O. Bauer,et al.  Analgesic evaluation of butorphanol in patients with postoperative wound pain. , 1976, Proceedings of the Western Pharmacology Society.

[13]  F. Caruso,et al.  Butorphanol and pentazocine in patients with severe postoperative pain , 1975, Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.

[14]  H. Wong,et al.  Oxilorphan and Butorphanol. Potent Narcotic Antagonists and Nonaddicting Analgesics in the 3,14-Dihydroxymorphinan Series. Part V , 1975 .

[15]  R. Knill,et al.  Canadian Anaesthetists’ society , 1974 .

[16]  F. Caruso,et al.  Butorphanol: a double-blind evaluation in postoperative patients with moderate or severe pain , 1974, Canadian Anaesthetists' Society journal.