1 Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care and 2 Department of Emergency Medicine and Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France*Corresponding author: Département dAnesthésie et de Réanimation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47 Boulevard de lHôpital, F-75651 Paris Cedex 13, France
Accepted for publication: May 25, 2002
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Abstract |
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Methods. Seventy-three patients requiring morphine titration in a post-anaesthetic care unit after major surgery, were studied. Fifty-two patients slept (Sleep group) and 21 did not (Awake group). When a patient slept during titration, morphine was discontinued. Visual analogue pain scale (VAS), Ramsay score (RS), and the bispectral index (BIS) were recorded at the beginning of titration (STonset), at sleep onset (STsleep), then 5, 10, 20, and 30 min afterwards (ST4).
Results. In the Sleep group, mean (SD) RS increased from 1.7 (0.4) to 2.4 (0.6) (P<0.05 vs STonset) and BIS decreased from 95 (5.0) to 89.8 (10.2) between STonset and STsleep (P<0.05), RS remained stable thereafter. Conversely, RS and BIS remained unaltered in the Awake group. The reduction in VAS was comparable between groups (from 78 (17) to 39 (21), and from 64 (16) to 30.4 (11), respectively). Even though mean (SD) VAS was 39 (21) at ST4 in the Sleep group, 13 patients (25%) maintained a VAS above 50 mm.
Conclusion. We observed dissociated effects of morphine on the time-course of sedation and analgesia with sedation occurring first, followed by analgesia. Therefore, morphine-induced sedation should not be considered as an indicator of an appropriate correct level of analgesia during i.v. morphine titration.
Br J Anaesth 2002; 89: 697701
Keywords: analgesia; analgesics opioid, morphine; monitoring, bispectral index; sedation
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Introduction |
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Several behavioural scales assess depth of sedation. Among them, the Ramsay score (RS) is a validated and widely used technique.4 Nevertheless, its components are somewhat subjective, and prone to observer bias. The use of this scale is easy, for it does not require any device, but its accuracy in detecting deep sedation is questionable during the early postoperative period. Many patients in PACU are known to keep their eyes closed without being sedated. This corresponds to an RS of 3 in an apparently sleepy patient, leading to morphine discontinuation for safety reasons, independent of the visual analogue score (VAS) for pain.3 Therefore, we attempted to find methods measuring the depth of sedation in a way that avoids the observer interpretation of the RS and of the patients behaviour. The bispectral index (BIS) is a parameter derived from the electroencephalogram and has been validated in the assessment of the depth of anaesthesia5 and the depth of sedation in the intensive care unit.6 7 We felt that, as the technique is based on an analysis of electrical cortical activity, it could also provide a useful tool to assess the level of consciousness in awake patients. The BIS could also be useful to assess sedation in PACU, for it provides continuous information in contrast with the discontinuous assessment of behavioural scales.
Therefore, the current study was undertaken to provide a better assessment of the determinants of patient sedation during i.v. morphine titration in PACU, particularly in relation to the time-course of sedation and analgesia. The main goals of the study were to assess prospectively the temporal relationship between morphine titration, analgesia and sedation and to determine whether patients who sleep during i.v. morphine titration are simply sedated or are actually relieved from their pain.
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Methods |
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Regional anaesthesia was an exclusion criterion. Anaesthetic and postoperative analgesic procedures were not standardized and were left to the discretion of the attending anaesthetists in charge of the patient, according to local procedures.3 The only constraints placed upon anaesthetists were to use only sufentanil as the intraoperative opioid, and isoflurane as the volatile anaesthetic. Postoperative analgesia consisted mainly of a combination of propacetamol and ketoprofen (when not contraindicated) and morphine.
Local procedure for morphine titration
According to our local procedure,3 morphine titration was initiated when the pain VAS was higher than 30 mm on a 100 mm scale. Patients received oxygen via a facial mask at the rate of 5 litre min1. Boluses of i.v. morphine were 3 or 2 mg when patients weight was above or below 60 kg, respectively. The interval between boluses was 5 min, without an upper dose limit. Morphine titration was discontinued when VAS was inferior to 30 mm, in case of side-effects such as nausea and/or vomiting, respiratory depression (SpO2 <92%, ventilatory frequency rate <10), or occurrence of deep sedation (eyes closed >3 min, RS >2). An RS on a 6-point scale was used (1=anxious and agitated patient; 2=cooperative patient; 3=asleep patient, brisk response to loud voice; 4=asleep patient, sluggish response to loud voice; 5=no response to loud voice; score of 6=no response to pain).
Among the 73 patients included, there was a group of patients who slept (Sleep group: eyes closed >3 min, RS >2) in whom i.v. morphine was discontinued, and a group of patients who did not sleep (Awake group). Morphine was not discontinued in the Awake group. The Awake group was designed to serve as a control group to assess the quality of BIS monitoring and to compare BIS and electromyographic (EMG) changes among patients who slept and those who stayed awake.
All patients were observed using a BIS monitor (A-2000 monitor; Aspect MS®, Leiden, The Netherlands). When a patient slept while receiving morphine, its administration was discontinued. The following variables were recorded: BIS value, RS, VAS, arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2), ventilatory frequency (VF), and the EMG recorded on the BIS monitor. We proceeded in the following order. First, the BIS and EMG values were recorded when the patient was asleep. Then, the patient was awoken and we assessed the RS. Finally, the VAS for pain was scored. After this, the patient usually fell asleep again. In the Sleep group, these variables were assessed just before the onset of titration (STonset), when patients started to sleep (STsleep), then 5 (ST1), 10 (ST2), 20 (ST3), and 30 min (ST4) after the onset of sleep. In the Awake group, the same variables were recorded just before the onset of titration (ATonset), then at 5 (AT0), 10 (AT1), 20 (AT2), 30 min (AT3), and at the end of titration (AT4).
Duration of surgery, total intraoperative sufentanil dose, administration of propacetamol and of ketoprofen, delay between tracheal extubation and onset of morphine titration, total dose of morphine administered, body temperature at onset of morphine titration and time of sleep after morphine titration were also measured.
Data are expressed as mean (SD), or as median and its 95% confidence interval when variables were not normally distributed (duration of surgery, delay between extubation, and onset of morphine titration). Continuous variables (age, weight, cumulative doses of sufentanil, total dose of morphine administered) were analysed using the Students t-test. Comparison of two medians was performed using the MannWhitney test. Changes in VAS, BIS, SpO2, ventilatory frequency, and EMG were analysed using an analysis of variance for repeated measures and a Bonferroni correction. The RS was analysed using KruskallWallis test. Comparison of two numbers was performed using the chi-squared test. All P values were two-tailed and a P value of <0.05 was considered significant. Analyses were performed on a computer using NCSS 6.0 software (Statistical Solutions Ltd., Cork, Ireland).
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Results |
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Discussion |
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Sedation during i.v. morphine titration occurs in up to 60% of patients in PACU.3 This sedation is often arbitrarily attributed to the occurrence of an adequate level of analgesia, for the patient who sleeps does not spontaneously express any pain. Nevertheless, the meaning of this sedation is not obvious, as many causes of sedation, such as an incomplete elimination of general anaesthetics and/or intra-operative opioids, exist in the PACU that might interfere with or potentiate the effects of i.v. morphine titration. In our study, this factor is unlikely to be important for there was a long delay between tracheal extubation and the onset of morphine titration (1 h in both groups). Nevertheless, the duration of surgery in the Sleep group was greater than in the Awake group and a larger dose of sufentanil was given and presumably a larger dose of isoflurane. Therefore, the patients who had a longer anaesthetic might be more likely to fall asleep when given the same dose of morphine as those receiving a shorter anaesthetic. Finally, morphine itself might also induce deep sedation.8 9 Therefore, occurrence of sedation during morphine titration does not necessarily imply that patients are relieved from their pain. In fact, the current study showed that at sleep onset during morphine titration, the VAS remained high (
50 mm).
The current study also identified three subgroups of patient among those who slept during titration: patients completely (VAS <30 mm), imperfectly (VAS between 30 and 50 mm) or not (VAS >50 mm) relieved at all from their pain, 30 min after morphine discontinuation. This last subgroup accounted for 25% of the patients who slept. An individual analysis (data not shown) showed that these were the same patients who had a VAS above 50 mm, 10, 20, and 30 min after the onset of sleep. Therefore, when a patient falls asleep while receiving morphine titration, failure of analgesia might probably be predicted early, when the VAS remains elevated 10 min after onset of sleep.
According to our local procedure, the PACU nurses discontinued i.v. morphine titration when the RS became greater than 2.3 This cut-off value was arbitrarily chosen for safety reasons, in order to avoid very deep sedation and respiratory depression.3 Nevertheless, neither respiratory depression as measured by SpO2 and ventilatory frequency, nor deep sedation (RS >4) was ever observed during the study period. Furthermore, in a previous study on 1200 patients, only one was given naloxone to reverse respiratory depression.3 It is possible that a cut-off value of the RS at three instead of two might allow patients to receive a little more morphine providing a better pain relief with no or little increment of respiratory depression. At the present time, however, no study currently supports this hypothesis from a safety point of view.
Interference between electroencephalographic activity and EMG is probably a major pitfall during BIS monitoring and has been reported previously as providing a false elevation of BIS values in anaesthetized patients.10 Also, BIS is usually artificially overestimated by the EMG activity in sedated and ventilated patients in the intensive care unit.7 This overestimation is not predictable and might therefore represent a possible bias in the interpretation of the BIS value in awake patients. As EMG activity is generally elevated in awake patients in PACU, the Awake group was designed as a control group in whom patients remained not sedated during morphine titration. Therefore, we could compare the changes in EMG in both the Sleep and Awake groups and then assess the influence of EMG on the BIS recording in these two groups. We did not find any significant difference in EMG between the groups. The results from the current study confirm that alteration in the EMG activity does not account for the decrease in the BIS observed in the Sleep group. The current study suggests that BIS monitoring might represent an interesting alternative to the RS in the assessment of depth of sedation in the PACU. The main value of the BIS over the RS is that it provides a continuous assessment of the sedation level.
Nevertheless, factors other than EMG activity limit the interpretation of the BIS in the intensive care unit and PACU. Hypothermia,11 shivering, poor signal quality (quality index signal <50%), spontaneous patient movements inducing signal loss, electrical interference from the forced-air warming systems12 or pacemakers13 are possible causes of misinterpretation of the BIS signal. In the current study, temperature was monitored and patients had a mean temperature of 36.2 and 35.8°C in the Sleep and Awake groups, respectively, which is compatible with an accurate recording of the BIS.14 We also considered possible electrical interference, and we particularly avoided the use of any forced-air warming blanket.
In conclusion, the current study provides new insights into the mechanisms of action of morphine during i.v. titration for acute postoperative pain in PACU. First, we showed that when patients sleep during morphine titration, sedation and analgesia have a different time-course, sedation occurring before analgesia. Secondly, only 48% of patients who sleep during morphine titration are relieved from their pain, 27% still express moderate pain (VAS between 30 and 50 mm). The remaining 25% of patients still endure high pain scores (VAS >50 mm) 30 min after the discontinuation of morphine titration. Finally, this study suggests that morphine-induced sedation should not be considered as an indirect indicator of a correct level of analgesia during i.v. morphine titration.
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Acknowledgement |
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References |
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