Postprocedure Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia Compared to Epidural Patient-Controlled Analgesia Use after Uterine Fibroid Embolization: A Clinical Audit

Postprocedure epidural analgesia has a proven benefit over intravenous (i.v.) analgesia for pain management, but has not yet been demonstrated for uterine fibroid embolization (UFE). The objectives of this clinical audit were to determine if epidural patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) was beneficial to patient outcome as compared to i.v. PCA in decreasing parenteral opioid requirements and its associated side effects and determine if there is a difference in required oral opioids after the PCA is stopped