Continuous infusion of papaveretum for relief of postoperative pain.

Postoperative analgesia, once established initially by the titration method, is sustained with a flexible regime of papaveretum, infused continuously with a portable syringe pump. The initial analgesic requirement (IAR) for titrating the pain threshold level, was between 4 and 10 mg of papaveretum and the maintenance dose between 1 and 1·66 mg/hr for the first 24 hr and between 0·83 and 1 mg/hr for the second 24 hr. There was no significant association between IAR and the maintenance dose (P<0·2) nor was there any correlation between the maintenance dose, body weight, age, sex or nature of operations. The results in 70 patients are encouraging.