Objective To compare the analgesic and side effects of patient-controlled intravenous analgesia(PCIA) with lornoxicam and morphine supplemented by continuous epidural infusion of 0.2% ropivacaine. Methods Sixty ASA I - II patients undergoing elective hysterectomy under epidural anesthesia were randomly divided into two groups: lornoxicam group (L, n = 30) and morphine group (M, n=30). For postoperative analgesia both groups received continuous epidural infusion of 0.2% ropivacaine 4 ml'h . In group L the patients received PICA with 0.008% lornoxicam and in group M 0.001% morphine. The bolus dose was 1 ml, lock-out interval 5 min and maximal amount within 1 h was 12 ml in both groups. If the patient still felt pain after pressing PCA pump 12 times, an additional epidural bolus of 0.2% ropivacaine 5 ml and morphine 0. 5mg was given. The clinical effects were assessed by (1) VAS score of pain( 0 = no pain, 10 = severe pain), (2) Bruggrmann comfort score (0 = persistent pain, 4 = no pain at coughing), (3) modified Bromage score, (4)patients satisfaction, (5) the number of pressing of PCIA pump by the patient (D1 ) at 30 min, 1,4,8,12,16,20,24h and the number of bolus dose delivered (D2), (5) the time when the patient passed gas and (7) complications such as nausea and vomiting and respiratory depression.Results The demographic data were comparable between the two groups. The amount of ropivacaine consumed was 192 mg in both groups.The amount of lornoxicam consumed was (3.4 +2.8) mg in group L and the amount of morphine consumed was (4.7 + 3.5) mg in group M. There was no statistically significant difference in VAS and Bruggrmann comfort score between the two groups. There were less side-effects in group L which were also milder as compared with those in group M.Conclusion The results suggest that continuous epidural infusion of 0.2% ropivacaine combined with lornoxicam in PCIA can provide better analgesia and reduce drug consumption in PICA. The efficacy of analgesia providedby lornoxicam is similar to morphine but lornoxicam causes less side-effects than morphine.