Placebo-controlled study on postoperative pain treatment with carprofen and buprenorphine in dogs with fractures.

摘要

The aim of this study was to evaluate the analgesic efficacy, as well as side effects of the non-steroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) carprofen and the opioid agonist/antagonist burprenorphine over a 5-day postoperative treatment period in 30 dogs with fractures in the humerus or femur. Pain and sedation were measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and numerical estimation scale (NRS). Further pain indicators were the degree of lameness, nociceptive threshold glucose and cortisol levels over time as well as heart rate and systolic blood pressure. On the day of admission (day 1) as well as on the last day of the study (day 5), clinicochemical parameters (BUN, creatinine, ALT, GLDH, AP) were analysed. Furthermore, urination and defaecation, as well as wound healing, were monitored. On the first day of the postoperative period, the buprenorphine group showed the highest pain scores. This was also the case on days 2 to 5 compared to the carprofen group. The placebo group ranged between the two treatment groups during the entire examination period and only differed from the buprenorphine group on day 1 because of lower pain scores. In these trauma patients, the tested analgesics with the doses and dosing intervals used did not cause clinically relevant side effects. Due to broad deviations of the pain scores and comparatively high mean pain scores, especially on day 1 of the study, as well as due to only insignificant differences to the placebo group, the efficacy of the two analgesics, especially of buprenorphine after premedication with levomethadone, must be regarded as insufficient. Postoperative application of buprenorphine after premedication with a pure opioid agonist must even be considered to be contraindicated..