Pain intensity profile after a single injection of the peptide analgesic taphalgin in traumatology and orthopedic patients: prospective observational cohort study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Multimodal analgesia is the main management strategy for postoperative pain. One component of this approach is opioid agonists. OBJECTIVE: Assessment of pain intensity profile after a single administration of the new selective µ1-opioid receptor agonist taphalgin in traumatology and orthopedic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective observational program analyzed data from 100 patients whom were prescribed the drug taphalgin for pain relief after traumatological and orthopedic surgery. All patients were treated with 50 mg dexketoprofen when moderate pain appeared after surgery. If the pain reached moderate or high intensity again, 4 mg of taphalgin was administered subcutaneously and then the change in pain intensity at rest and during movement was observed after 15, 30, 45, 60 min, as well as 2 and 4 h, using numerical rating scale (NRS). In this study physicians’ satisfaction by taphalgin was estimated. Satisfaction was assessed using Likert scale, where 1 — very bad, 2 — unsatisfactory, 3 — satisfactory, 4 — good, 5 — excellent. Repeated measures analysis of variance and dependent samples t-test were used for statistical analysis. The critical level of significance for accepting significant differences was set at 0.05. RESULTS: The average value of pain intensity before drug administration at rest was 5.9 ± 0.5 points and pain in movement was 8.4 ± 0.8 points. After just 15 min, significant pain reduction was achieved to 4.9 ± 0.8 and 7.3 ± 1.1 points (p < 0.001), respectively, after 30 min — to 3.6 ± 1.1 and 5.7 ± 1.1 points (p < 0.001), respectively, and after 60 min — to 2.2 ± 0.8 и 4.2 ± 0.8 points (p < 0.001), respectively. Doctor’s satisfaction with treatment showed that a positive assessment was given in 83 % of cases, and complete dissatisfaction was revealed in 1 % of cases. Impotently, no observations of respiratory depression or postoperative nausea and vomiting syndrome have been recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The drug taphalgin is an effective analgesic for the postoperative period in traumatology and orthopedics.