This prospective randomized study compared I.V. infusion of tramadol "T" with fentanyl "F" for analgesia and postoperative outcome in 30 patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. A balanced general anaesthetic tech­nique was given to both groups. In "T" group (n=15), tramadol (1mg.kg-1) was given firstly then infusion started as follow: 1st hr: 1mg.kg-1.hr-1, 2nd hr.: 0.75 mg.kg-1.hr-1 and 0.5 mg.kg-1-hr"! for the following hours. In "F" group (n=15), Fentanyl (1.5 ng/kg-1) was given firstly then infusion was given in the following regimen: 1st hr: 1jig.kg-1.hr1, 2nd hr.: 0.75 u.kg--1hr-1 and 0.5 ug.kg-1,.hr-1 for the following hours. Infusion stopped at time of clo­sure in both groups. No significant haemodynamic differences were de­tected between both groups. The ear­ly postoperative gascmetric readings
were within acceptable values in both groups. Mean VPS ranged from 0.47 ± 0.9 to 1.2 ± 0.4 and from 0.73 ± 0.3 to 1.33 ± 0.5 in "T" and "F" groups re­spectively in the first 6 hours posto-peratively. VPS showed no significant differences between both groups. It increased significantly as related to basal value after 5 and 4 hours in "T" and "F" groups respectively. We con­cluded that tramadol given by I.V. in­fusion appears to be a promising an­algesic with respiratory and haemodynamic stability.