See Detailed Description field.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate morphine intake in the first 4 hours after abdominal surgery. Morphine intake is compared between patients on placebo and patients on parecoxib/valdecoxib.

This study was prematurely terminated because subject recruitment was slower than expected, it was determined that the study was not going to achieve the statistical power necessary to address the primary objective. Letters were sent to the sites informing them of study termination on 26 February 2004. The decision to terminate the trial was not based on any safety concerns.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Male or female aged 18 to 65 years weighing at least 50 kg but no more than 110 kg undergoing elective intra-peritoneal laparoscopic abdominal surgery
• American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) Physical Status I-III

Exclusion Criteria:

• Significant chronic disease, such as renal, hepatic, cardiovascular, or respiratory, which would contraindicate participation in the study or interfere with interpretation of study results
• Active gastrointestinal disease, chronic or acute renal or hepatic disorder, or known coagulation defect