The purpose of this study is to compare post-operative pain after anesthesia with either
isoflurane or propofol. Each group will be further randomized to recieve intranasal nicotine
or placebo inorder to detect potetial pronociceptive action of isoflurane.
The study is a randomized, prospective, double-blinded controlled trial. Eighty adult women
undergoing uterine surgery will be recruited for this study. Enrollment in this study is
limited to women, because our animal studies suggest that females have a greater hyperalgesic
response to volatile anesthetics than do males.
The patient will be given one of two standard anesthetics for their surgery: isoflurane or
propofol. We are interested in these two anesthetics because we seek to see if there exists a
difference in their effects on a patient's perception of pain, as has been shown to be the
case in animal studies but has not yet been studied in humans.
The primary outcome variable will be postoperative pain, as measured by a numerical analog
pain score (VAS) at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 120, and 1440 minutes
postoperatively. Secondary outcome measures will include morphine utilization via PCA and
hemodynamics variables including heart rate, systolic BP, and diastolic BP, all of which will
be measured at the same time points as the VAS score.