The management of postoperative pain has received much interest in recent years. The degree of postoperative pain, as ultimately perceived by the patient, is multifactorial and depends on variables such as type and duration of the operation, type of anaesthesia and analgesia used, and the patient's mental and emotional state. (1) If sufficient analgesia is provided, not only will the patient's comfort be increased but the duration of hospital stay will be shortened, reducing both treatment costs and the risk of hospital-acquired infections. Of the many methods of postoperative pain relief, the oldest and most widely used is parenteral opioids. (2) Although opioid analgesics are the most frequently used drugs for postoperative analgesia, their use is limited by their side-effects. (3) The mechanisms involved in pain suggest that a combination of non-opioid analgesics and opioids might enhance the quality of analgesia and reduce opioid requirements and side-effects. (4) However, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which would otherwise be ideal for administration in combination with opioids, have adverse effects on the gastro-intestinal and haematological systems as well as on renal function. (5)
