A comparison of nalbuphine and pethidine for postoperative pain relief after orthopaedic surgery
Brock-Utne, J.G.; Ritchie, P.; Downing, J.W.
South African Medical Journal 68(6): 391-393
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0256-9574 PMID: 3898418 Document Number: 248103
Nalbuphine hydrochloride (Nubain; Du Pont Pharmaceuticals), a synthetic agonist-antagonist analgesic, in a dose of 20 mg was compared with pethidine 100 mg in 60 patients after elective surgery in a random double-blind study. Both drugs were given intramuscularly on the first day after surgery. The pain intensity and visual analogue scales would seem to indicate that nalbuphine has a longer duration of action than pethidine (P < 0.05). The respiration rates in the pethidine group were significantly more depressed 30 minutes after the injection than in the nalbuphine group (P < 0.05). Nalbuphine caused less depression of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure at both 30 and 60 minutes (P < 0.001). The results of the study show that nalbuphine, in the dose used here, may prove to be a useful substitute for pethidine.