Epidural versus intravenous analgesia for pain control in kidney donors, a retrospective cohort study. Is there a kinship relationship?

Abstract

Aims: Best care must be provided for live kidney donors, including postoperative pain control. Treatment options include iv intermittent analgesics, iv or epidural patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). In this study we aimed to compare these modalities with respect to their analgesic efficacy. Methods: A retrospective analysis of fifty-eight live donor nephrectomy patients operated in a 7-year-period in a university hospital performed. Investigational Review Board approval has been obtained. Data of the patients’ postoperative analgesia methods, degree of kinship with the recipient, postoperative pain scores, and rescue analgesic and antiemetic use were obtained. Correlation of postoperative pain scores with the analgesia technique was investigated, as well as with the degree of kinship of the donor and recipient. Results: Patient-controlled analgesia provided better postoperative pain control, with the epidural PCA being the best. Moderate to severe pain at 6th postoperative hour in the iv intermittent, iv PCA, and epidural PCA groups was 76, 37, and 14%, respectively. Rescue analgesic use on the day of operation was 32% and 5% in the iv intermittent and iv PCA groups respectively, with no rescue analgesic use in the epidural PCA group. Postoperative antiemetic consumption was also less with the epidural PCA (P=0.024 and P=0.027 for postoperative days 1 and 2, respectively). No correlation was detected between the pain and the degree of kinship. Conclusion: Epidural patient-controlled analgesia provides better postoperative pain control after live donor nephrectomy, compared with intravenous intermittent or patient-controlled analgesia. Postoperative pain scores were not related to the degree of kinship.