Abstract

To assess the effect of postoperative pain control of upper abdominal surgery through lumbar epidural narcotic injection, the 3rd or 4th lumbar epidural puncture was done, and were injected 1 mg of morphine (Group I) or 10 mg of demerol (Group II) mixed with 10 ml of normal saline into the epidural space, after operation of the cholecystectomy in 10 patients and antrectomy and vagotomy, subtotal or total gastrectomy in 10 patients. Time interval of the postoperative analgesic effect between morphine and demerol groups were compared. The results of this study were as follows: 1. In the group I, average analgesic duration was 29.4 hours. 2. In the group II, average analgesic duration was 4.0 hours. It is concluded that postoperative pain control of upper abdominal surgery through the lumbar epidural narcotic injection was effective, and morphine injection was more effective than demerol.