Intravenous paracetamol: a review of efficacy and safety in therapeutic use

Abstract

Paracetamol is well established as a leading nonprescription antipyretic analgesic drug and is available in oral, rectal or intravenous forms. However, except for oral paracetamol, there is a marked discrepancy between the extent to which paracetamol is used and the available evidence for an analgesic effect in postoperative pain. This review mainly focuses on intravenous paracetamol. Its efficacy and safety are analyzed, as well as its use in therapeutics, alone or in combination. The morphine-sparing, additive and antihyperalgesia effects of intravenous paracetamol are also reviewed. The analyses are divided into several sections, comparing the efficacy of intravenous paracetamol with placebo, other forms of paracetamol or analgesic agents and analyzing its efficacy in multimodal therapy combined with NSAIDs or a morphinic agent.

Keywords: :

• analgesia
• intravenous paracetamol
• morphine-sparing-effect
• therapeutic use

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This study was supported by a research grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.