Abstract
A double-blind between-patient study involving 225 adult patients was carried out to compare the efficacy of oral aspirin (650 mg), dextropropoxyphene (65 mg) and pentazocine (50 mg) in post-operative pain. All the patients were initially in moderate or severe pain and all three drugs produced some degree of pain relief. The onset of action of pentazocine was significantly more rapid than that of aspirin or dextropropoxyphene. The analgesia provided by dextropropoxyphene was significantly inferior to that achieved with aspirin or pentazocine and the duration of action, assessed by patient demand for further analgesic drugs, was also significantly shorter than that of the other two drugs. The incidence and severity of side-effects was greatest in the dextropropoxyphene group and it is concluded from these results that pentazocine should be the oral analgesic of choice in the treatment of post-operative pain.
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