Tapentadol Immediate Release (IR) versus Morphine Hydrochloride for Postoperative Analgesia of Patients Undergoing Total Abdominal Hysterectomy-A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to examine the efficacy of tapentadol immediate release (IR) and morphine hydrochloride in the treatment of acute postoperative pain after total abdominal hysterectomy, as well as to examine the frequency of opioid-related side effects in observed patients. Materials and Methods: The prospective observational study was conducted over five months, and it included a total number of 100 patients. The two cohorts had different types of postoperative analgesia, and the effects were observed for 24 h postoperatively, by following the pain scores on NRS (Numerical Pain Scale), contentment with analgesia, and opioid-related side effects. Results: Statistical significance was found when assessing pain 24 h after surgery while coughing, where patients in the tapentadol IR group had significantly higher mean pain scores (p < 0.01). The subjective feeling of satisfaction with postoperative analgesia was statistically significant in the tapentadol IR group (p = 0.005). Vertigo appeared significantly more in patients from the morphine group (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Tapentadol IR (immediate release) and morphine hydrochloride are both effective analgesics used in the first 24 h after total transabdominal hysterectomy. Overall satisfaction of patients with analgesia was good. The frequency of side effects was higher in the morphine group, with statistical significance regarding the vertigo.

Convalescent plasma and all-cause mortality of COVID-19 patients: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Insight into the clinical potential of convalescent plasma in patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is important given the severe clinical courses in unvaccinated and seronegative individuals. The aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a survival benefit of convalescent plasma therapy in COVID-19 patients. The authors independently assessed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) identified by the search strategy for inclusion, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. The binary primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Risk ratio (RR) of the convalescent plasma treatment (vs. best standard care) and its associated standard error (effect size) were calculated. A random-effects model was employed to statistically pool the effect sizes of the selected studies. We included 19 RCTs with 17,021 patients. The random-effects model resulted in an estimated pooled RR of 0.94 (95% CI 0.81-1.08, p = 0.33), showing no statistical evidence of the benefit of convalescent plasma therapy on all-cause mortality. Convalescent plasma therapy was not found to be effective in reducing all-cause mortality in COVID-19 patients. Further studies are needed to determine in which patients convalescent plasma therapy may lead to a reduction in mortality.