Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Transdermal buprenorphine for post-surgery pain relief in cats
By Clark, Terrence P et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary pharmacology and therapeutics·2022·Nexcyon Pharmaceuticals, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Multicentered masked placebo-controlled phase 3 clinical study of an extended duration transdermal buprenorphine solution for post-operative pain in cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats undergoing surgery for reproductive sterilization and declawing received either a new transdermal pain medication (buprenorphine solution) or a placebo to see how well it controlled their post-operative pain. The study found that 81% of the cats treated with the medication had good pain control, compared to only 40% in the placebo group. Most cats in both groups did not experience significant side effects. This suggests that the transdermal buprenorphine is a safe and effective option for managing pain after surgery in cats.
People also search for: cat post-operative pain relief · buprenorphine for cats · cat surgery pain management
Abstract
A prospective, double masked, placebo-controlled, multicentered phase 3 clinical study was conducted to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of transdermal buprenorphine solution (TBS) for the control of post-operative pain in cats. A total of 228 cats from 12 US investigational sites met the enrollment criteria of which 107 placebo- and 112 TBS-treated cats were included into the per protocol efficacy analysis. The dose of TBS was 8 mg (0.4 ml) to cats 1.2 to 3 kilograms and 20 mg (1 ml) to cats >3 to 7.5 kilograms applied topically to the dorsal unclipped cervical skin 1-2 h prior to the undergoing elective surgical reproductive sterilization in conjunction with forelimb onychectomy. Interactive pain assessments and physiological variables were quantified through 96 h following recovery from anesthesia, and rescue analgesia was administered any time that pain control was scored inadequate. Cats requiring rescue analgesia or experiencing an adverse event suspected to be treatment related were considered treatment failures. Sixty-five and 23 cats were considered treatment failures in the placebo and TBS groups, respectively, with most occurring on the day of surgery. The treatment success rates were 0.40 (95% confidence interval [CI]: [0.28-0.53]) and 0.81 (95% CI: [0.70-0.89]) in the placebo and TBS groups, respectively, and the difference was significant (p < .05). Adverse events occurred at a similar frequency and were not clinically meaningful in either treatment group. The post-operative body temperatures over the duration of the study were on average 0.35 (95% CI: [0.20-0.50]) °C higher than baseline in TBS-treated cats and were not clinically meaningful, an observation typical of opioids in cats. These results serve as substantial evidence that TBS is safe and effective for the control of orthopedic and soft tissue post-operative pain in cats when a single topical dose is applied 1-2 h prior to surgery.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35790011/