Comparison of sublingual buprenorphine and intravenous morphine on duration and severity of analgesia

Effective postoperative pain management is one of the anesthesia goals and there are benefits for rapid recovery and discharge from hospital. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of sublingual buprenorphine versus intravenous morphine on duration and severity of analgesia effects in patients undergoing inguinal herniorrhaphy. During a single blind clinical trial، 80 patients ASA class 1 candidates for elective inguinal herniorrhaphy under spinal anesthesia were randomly divided into two equal groups. At the start of the surgery، one group was treated with sublingual buprenorphine (tablets 0. 4 mg) and another group was treated with intravenous morphine (0. 1 mg/kg). Patients were observed at multiple hours after surgery to record the time of pain onset and pain severity based on visual analog scale (VAS). There was no significant difference between the mean ages of patients (p＞0. 05). Comparison of pain onset during the first six hours after surgery and before receiving second dose of these drugs showed a significant difference in increasing the duration of analgesia by the use of sublingual buprenorphine (p=0. 001). The severity of pain during the 24 hours after surgery were lesser in sublingual buprenorphine group than IV morphine (p=0. 001). The result of this study showed that sublingual buprenorphine is more effective than intravenous morphine in controlling pain.