A placebo-controlled three-treatment randomised controlled trial was undertaken. 59 participants were randomly allocated to receive a dressing containing
Intrasite gel and
morphine sulphate,
Intrasite gel and water or the conventional
Jelonet dressing. The study design enabled double-blinding between the two
Intrasite gel treatments.
RESULTS: 49 participants were included in the final analysis as 10 were lost to follow-up. No significant differences were observed between the
pain scores or comfort ratings of the three treatments. Participants receiving
Jelonet and the placebo reduced their
pain scores by the greatest amount overall. However, participants receiving
morphine were the only group to reduce
pain scores by >20 mm on two consecutive time intervals (2 and 6 h). At 12 h the
morphine group reported the highest
pain scores. Only 4/15 participants receiving topical
morphine administered additional
analgesia compared with 12/17 receiving the
Jelonet dressing and 6/17 receiving Intrasite and water (p = 0.055). However, when all
analgesia was taken into account, the
morphine group was administered the greatest amount. Overall, the placebo group reported their dressings to be the most comfortable and took the least amount of
analgesia. Minor adverse reactions included
itching, burning and a
rash. No serious adverse reactions were reported.
CONCLUSIONS: Topical
morphine sulphate does not seem to be as effective when used for the
pain associated with superficial
burns as when used for the
pain associated with chronic inflammatory
wounds. (The European Clinical Trials Database number for this study is 2005-003285-42.).