Efficacy and safety of controlled-release oxycodone and standard therapies for postoperative pain after knee or hip replacement.

BACKGROUND: Standard therapy (ST) for postoperative pain after knee and hip replacement at the Hamilton Health Sciences Henderson Hospital consists of epidural analgesia or patient-controlled analgesia for the first 48 hours, followed by oral or parenteral analgesics, or both, on an as-needed basis. We compared the efficacy and safety of scheduled controlled-release (CR) oxycodone hydrochloride (OxyContin; Purdue Pharma, Pickering, Ont.) and ST …