Researchers studied 65 patients who underwent lower-limb amputation in one of five different analgesic regimens: perioperative epidural analgesia and epidural anesthesia; preoperative intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, postoperative epidural analgesia and epidural anesthesia; perioperative intravenous PCA and epidural anesthesia; perioperative intravenous PCA and general anesthesia; and conventional analgesia and GA.
Results showed that optimized epidural analgesia or intravenous PCA starting 48 hours preoperatively and continuing 48 hours postoperatively decreased phantom limb pain at six months.
Read the Anesthesiology abstract on analgesia’s effect on phantom limb pain.
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