Abstract: [Abstract]〓  bjective  To investigate the postoperative analgesic effect after thoracic surgery by intercostal nerve blockade combined with patientcontrolled intravenous analgesia.Methods  42 patients after thoracotomy were randomly divided into the patientcontrolled intravenous analgesia group（group A）and intercostal nerve block combined patientcontrolled intravenous analgesia group（group B）.The use of intravenous analgesic drug pump was reduced in early postoperative period.All patients were comparatively observed with pain visual analogue scale（visual analogue scale，VAS）in static condition，activity，cough，times of painkillers using and the incidence of adverse reactions.Result The VAS scores in static condition，activity，cough，times of painkillers using in group B[（16.43±0.36），45.5%]was lower than group A[（27. 89±0.45），55.0%]there was statistical difference（P＜0.05）.There was no significant difference between group A（65.0%）and group B（31.8%）with incidence of adverse reactions（P＞0.05）.Conclusion The combination of intercostal nerve blockade and postoperative patientcontrolled intravenous analgesia has a good analgesic effect and safety for postoperative patients after thoracotomy，but can not relieve the adverse reactions such as nausea，vomiting and drowsiness