San Francisco: A recent US anesthesiology study has revealed that nicotine patches will be helpful in reducing pain in men after prostate removal surgery.

In a declaration, study author Dr. Ashraf Habib, of Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, NC, said, “Some patients would rather experience the pain than the potential side effects of morphine and other painkillers. The study suggests that the nicotine patch has a useful effect in improving pain relief after surgery.”

Dr. Habib’s study comprised 90 non-smoking men about to experience a radical retropubic prostatectomy. Each one received a 7 mg nicotine patch or the same placebo patch before anaesthesia and surgical procedure. After surgical treatment, each and every patient was capable of accessing morphine through a self-controlled device.

The patients who received the nicotine patch self-administered significantly less morphine in the postoperative period. In general, the nicotine patch was well-tolerated by patients, however, patients receiving nicotine reported higher levels of nausea.

Dr. Habib said, “The study suggests that the nicotine patch has a useful effect in improving pain relief after surgery.”

Various earlier studies have revealed the pain-relief benefits of nicotine. In one study, a small quantity of nicotine (3 milligrams) was given post-surgically, through a nicotine spray, to hysterectomy patients, and these patients reported less pain and less need for morphine.

Dr. Habbib said that future researches could decide whether nicotine is better administered in a patch or spray form, together with the success of nicotine in “smokers versus non-smokers and women versus men.”

Additionally, different patch quantities should be examined to identify the perfect amount of nicotine to generate optimal pain relief with least or no fallouts.