Objective: To assess the analgesic efficacy and safety of 5 mg of oxymorphone immediate release (IR) for mild to moderate pain.
Design: Multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.
Setting: Ambulatory surgical centers.
Participants: Outpatients (age, > or = 18 y) undergoing knee arthroscopy.
Intervention: Randomization to 5 mg of oxymorphone IR or placebo hourly as needed for up to 8 hours.
Main outcome measure: Sum of pain intensity difference (SPID) from baseline to 8 hours.
Results: Among 122 patients randomized, 70.5% and 28.7% had moderate or mild postsurgical pain at baseline, respectively. The mean SPID score was significantly greater in the oxymorphone IR group, showing greater pain relief, compared with the placebo group (least squares mean difference +/- standard error, 76.9+/-28.09; 95% confidence interval, 21.26-132.59; P=.007). More placebo patients (48.4%) required rescue medication than oxymorphone IR patients (16.7%), with median times to use of rescue medication of 6 hours 54 minutes and more than 8 hours, respectively (P<.001). More patients (47.4%) rated oxymorphone IR "very good" or "excellent" for pain relief versus placebo (25.0%). No oxymorphone IR-treated patients discontinued because of adverse events (AEs) or experienced serious AEs.
Conclusions: Five milligrams of oxymorphone IR was well tolerated and effective at relieving mild or moderate postsurgical pain after outpatient knee surgery.