Abstract:This study was designed to investigate the effect of pre emptive analgesia produced by preoperative epidural morphine. Sixty patients undergoing hysterectomy or oothorocystectomy were randomly divided into two groups. Bolus of morphine 1.5mg was injected into epidural space before the skin incision (group A) or at the end of operation (group B). The incidences of nausea, vomiting, pruritus and postoperative pain during the first 36h were observed. Pain scores were assessed by the method of visual analogue scale (VAS). The results indicated that there were no differences between the two groups. Conclusion: There were no pre emptive analgesic effect to be found in our studies.