Efficacy of Fentanyl Soaked Nasal Packs on Postoperative Pain in Nasal Surgeries.

Postoperative pain is one of the commonest feared surgical side effect which can lead to patient dissatisfaction. It occurs due to a combination of inflammatory reaction and an injury to neural tissue caused by the surgical incision. Anterior nasal packing is not an innocuous procedure. It causes discomfort/pain (especially upon removal), nasal mucosa trauma, epiphora, local infection, discomfort in swallowing, sleep disturbances and, very rarely, toxic shock and vagal reflex. Although systemic opioids are traditionally used in the management of postoperative pain, their use is still limited by their possible side effects. Opioid drugs mimic the actions of the endogenous opioid peptides by interacting with specific receptors, the opioid receptors which are μ, δ and κ. The μ receptor is important in sensory processing, including the modulation of nociceptive stimuli, extrapyramidal functioning and in limbic and neuroendrocine regulation. There are two subtypes of the μ receptor, a high-affinity μ receptor and a low-affinity μ2 receptor. Recently a third μ subtype has been described that binds opioid alkaloids such as morphine, but has essentially no, or exceedingly low, affinity for the naturally occurring endogenous opioid peptides or non-alkaloid opioids such as fentanyl. Based on the hypothesis that mu (μ) opioid receptor expression increases at the site of inflammation. our study aims to assess the analgesic effect produced by local application of fentanyl through fentanyl soaked nasal packs following different nasal surgeries.