Sixty patients with rotator cuff disease undergoing elective arthroscopic surgery were randomized to receive either a 12 ug/h fentanyl patch or a 10 mg/h subacromial bupivacaine infusion postoperatively to compare these two treatments on pain reduction and rescue analgesic consumption. Results indicated that the fentanyl patch and the subacromial bupivacaine infusion resulted in similar subjective pain outcome scores, amount of rescue analgesics consumed, function, and safety. Side effects in both groups included nausea, itching and constipation, with nausea being the most common.