Honey May Relieve Postoperative Pain

Numune Education and Research Hospital Details Research in Post Operative Pain
Drug Week, 12/15/2006

A new study, "Can postoperative pains following tonsillectomy be relieved by honey? A prospective, randomized, placebo controlled preliminary study," is now available. In this recent article published in the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, scientists in Ankara, Turkey conducted a study "To compare the effectiveness of acetaminophen versus acetaminophen-plus-honey following pediatric tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Prospective, randomized, and placebo controlled clinical trial."

"Tertiary care facility in Ankara, Turkey. Sixty consecutive tonsillectomy patients randomized to two groups. The acetaminophen group was treated with antibiotics (amoxicillin-clavulonic acid), acetaminophen and placebo, acetaminophen-plus-honey group was treated with antibiotics (amoxicillin-clavulonic acid), acetaminophen, and honey…

The difference between acetaminophen and acetaminophen-plus-honey groups was statistically significant both in terms of VAS and number of painkillers taken within the first 2 postoperative days (p <0.001)…

“Oral administration of honey following pediatric tonsillectomy may relieve postoperative pain and may decrease the need for analgesics," wrote S. Ozlugedik and colleagues, Numune Education and Research Hospital.

The researchers concluded: "Prospective, randomized, and double-blind studies should further be conducted in order to confirm the data obtained in this study and develop a standard protocol to achieve maximum clinical efficiency."

Ozlugedik and colleagues published their study in International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (Can postoperative pains following tonsillectomy be relieved by honey? A prospective, randomized, placebo controlled preliminary study. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 2006;70(11):1929-34).