Abstract
Objective:
To ascertain the quality of analgesia provided by morphine in comparison to codeine.
Design:
The study is a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of analgesic effect employing validated pain scores.
Patients:
Infants having primary cleft palate repair with informed parental consent to enter the study.
Interventions:
Infants received one of two analgesics intraoperatively for immediate postoperative pain relief. Morphine was given by intravenous injection and codeine by the intramuscular route.
Main Outcome Measure:
Pain scores in the immediate postoperative period for 2 hours following surgery; this outcome measure was decided prior to data collection.
Results:
The pain score and other outcome measures were all blinded. Measurements are all evident from the nature of the results.
Conclusions:
There was no clinically significant difference observed in the analgesic effect of either drug on the two groups studied.
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