Researchers Find Nicotine Patch Works as Pain Reliever

Nicotine patches are usually used to help people stop smoking. New research has found another use fornicotine patches. Nicotine patches are effective at relieving pain for men undergoing prostate removal surgery according to a recent press release from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

Most patients who undergo surgery receive narcotics, such as morphine or other narcotics, for pain relieve after surgery. These drugs have many different side effects, including vomiting, constipation, drowsiness, nausea, itching, and slowed breathing. Some can even cause dependence on the pain reliever. A recent study looked further into the pain management properties of nicotine patches.

Patients in this survey who were given a nicotine patch used significantly less morphine than patients who did not get a nicotine patch. Most of the patients did not have side effects, with one exception. Those who had received nicotine had more nausea than patients who did not receive nicotine.

"The study suggests that the nicotine patch has a useful effect in improving pain relief after surgery," Dr. Habib said.

Over 90 men had their prostates removed in a procedure called a radical retropubic prostatectomy. This procedure removes the prostate gland through an incision in the abdomen. Men undergoing this procedure can have several different anesthesia treatments given to them, inlcuding general, spinal, or an epidural anesthesia.

The men involved in the study were non-smokers. Some of them received a nicotine patch that delivered 7 milligrams of nicotine, others received a placebo that was identical to the nicotine patch. Patients did not know which of the two patches they had been given.

While they were in the hospital, all of the men could give themselves small doses of morphine through a controlled morphine drip.

"Some patients would rather experience the pain than the potential side effects of morphine and other painkillers," said Ashraf S. Habib, M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and director of quality improvement, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.