Previous studies have demonstrated an increased perioperative opioid requirement during inflammatory disease. To evaluate the influence of the inflammatory process, we studied in the same patient the sufentanil requirement during procedures that occur during two distinct phases of ulcerative colitis with different inflammatory profiles: (1) left colectomy for major colitis unresponsive to medical treatment during acute inflammation and (2) coloprotectomy with ileoanal anastomosis, three months after recovery of the acute inflammatory episode.

Sixteen patients with clinical and histological evidence of ulcerative colitis scheduled for colectomy with ileoanal anastomosis were included. For each surgical procedure, anaesthesia was induced with sufentanil 0.5 μg kg−1 and propofol 2 mg kg−1. Patients were ventilated with 50% nitrous oxide and oxygen, and tidal volume was adjusted to keep end-tidal CO2 at 30 mmHg. Anaesthesia was maintained with end-tidal isoflurane at 0.5%. Analgesia was achieved with continuous infusion of sufentanil at 0.3 μg kg−1 h−1. Additional boluses of sufentanil and increases in infusion rates were used when haemodynamic variables increased to more than 20% of preoperative values. Sufentanil consumption during surgery was analysed by Wilcoxon signed rank sum test. P < 0.05 was considered significant.

Total intra-operative sufentanil requirement was significantly larger during colectomy performed for acute inflammatory colitis than during ileoanal anastomosis performed after the inflammatory process (1.24 ± 0.48 μg kg−1 h−1 vs. 0.62 ± 0.3 μg kg−1 h−1; P < 0.05).

For the same patient, inflammatory status influences opioid requirements during surgery for ulcerative colitis.