Single dose intravenous propacetamol or intravenous paracetamol for postoperative pain (Review)

Background Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the most commonly prescribed ana lgesic for the treatment of acute pain. It may be administered orally or intravenously. The efficacy and safety of intravenou s (IV) formulations of paracetamol, IV paracetamol and IV propa cetamol, compared with placebo and other analgesics, is unclear. Objectives To assess the efficacy and safety of IV formulations of paracetam ol for treatment of postoperative pain in both adults and chil dren. Search strategy We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trial s (CENTRAL) ( The Cochrane Library 2010, Issue 2), MEDLINE (1950 to May 2010), EMBASE (1980 to 2010, Week 18), LILACS (1992 to May 20 10) and reference lists of retrieved articles. Selection criteria Randomized, double-blind, placebo- or active-controlled singl e dose clinical trials of IV propacetamol or IV paracetamol for acu te postoperative pain in adults or children. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed the risk of bias a nd extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional in formation. We collected adverse event information from the studies. Main results Thirty-six studies (3896 participants) were included. Thirty-s even percent of participants receiving IV propacetamol/paracet amol experienced at least 50% pain relief over four hours compared w ith 16% of those receiving placebo (number needed to treat to benefit (NNT = 4.0; 95% confidence interval 3.5 to 4.8). The proport ion of participants in IV propacetamol/paracetamol groups experiencing at least 50% pain relief diminished over six hou rs, as reflected in a higher NNT of 5.3 (4.2 to 6.7). Participants re ceiving.