Factors affecting unused remaining volume of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia in patients following laparoscopic gynecologic surgery

Purpose This study was undertaken to evaluate the factors affecting the unused remaining volume of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) in patients who had undergone laparoscopic gynecologic surgery.

Results The average age of the 98 patients was 40.0 ± 8.24 years. The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) and early discontinuation were not statistically significant among the different surgical groups (p =.540 and p =.338, respectively). Twenty-eight patients wanted discontinuation of IV PCA and the remaining volume was 33.6 ± 7.8 mL (range 20-55 mL). The significant determinants of remaining volume were whether IV PCA was discontinued due to PONV and duration of surgery (p <.001). The surgical duration was inversely correlated with the remaining volume.

Conclusion Early discontinuation of IV PCA due to PONV is a major contributing factor to wastage of medicine. Prevention and treatment of PONV is needed to encourage patients to maintain PCA use for pain control.

Method We retrospectively collected patient records from pre-existing PCA log sheets from 98 patients. Surgical factors and IV PCA-related data including remaining volume, administration duration, early discontinuation (yes or no), and adverse reactions were recorded. Chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression were applied for data analysis.