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. 1995 Feb;39(2):182–186. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1995.tb04428.x

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with codeine for postoperative pain relief in ten extensive metabolisers and one poor metaboliser of dextromethorphan.

K Persson 1, S Sjöström 1, I Sigurdardottir 1, V Molnár 1, M Hammarlund-Udenaes 1, A Rane 1
PMCID: PMC1364958  PMID: 7742159

Abstract

Postoperative pain relief with codeine was evaluated in 11 women undergoing hysterectomy. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) was used to administer codeine. After the study the patients were phenotyped with respect to the O-demethylation of dextromethorphan (cytochrome P4502D6 polymorphism). Ten were extensive metabolisers and one a poor metaboliser. There was a nine-fold variation in the minimum plasma concentration of codeine consistent with pain relief (40-350 ng ml-1). Two patients did not experience any effect of codeine, one of whom was a poor metaboliser of dextromethorphan, confirmed by genotyping. In the other nine patients the effective dose of codeine varied from 4.8-25.3 mg h-1.

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Selected References

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