epidural meptazinol for pain relief after lower abdominal surgery a preliminary investigation is reported into the use of epidural meptazinol for pain relief in 20 patients after major lower abdominal gynaecological surgery analgesia was rapid in onset 15 minutes had a median duration of 124 minutes interquartile range 85212 minutes after a single dose of 30 mg and a median duration of 1225 minutes interquartile range 70127 minutes after a single dose of 60 mg overall pain relief as judged by the patients themselves was satisfactory in 19 out of the 20 cases at 30 minutes and 45 minutes pain relief was significantly better with the 60 mg than the 30 mg dose p less than 002 no drugrelated adverse effects were observed during the study