• Thanaporn Jitpakdee and Sahatsa Mandee.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkoknoi, Bangkok, Thailand.
• Paediatr Anaesth. 2014 Jun 1; 24 (6): 561-8.

Background And ObjectivesOpioid is the gold standard for treating moderate-to-severe pain in pediatric patients. However, its undesirable side effects lead to unsatisfied postoperative pain management outcome (Pediatr Anesth, 17, 2007, 756). The most commonly reported opioid-related side effects are vomiting (40%), pruritus (20-60%) (Anesthesiology, 77, 1992, 162; Drugs, 67, 2007, 2323), and constipation (15-90%) (Int J Clin Pract, 61, 2007, 1181). The potential life-threatening adverse event, respiratory depression, is less common (0.0013%) (Pediatr Anesth, 20, 2010, 119). The aim of this review was to evaluate prevention strategies that have been shown to decrease opioid side effects in pediatric patients during the postoperative period.MethodsLiterature searches were conducted from 1984 to February 2013. Meta-analysis, systematic review, and randomized, placebo-controlled studies were obtained from PubMed and the Cochrane Library. The medical subject heading (MeSH) terms were opioid analgesics, adverse effects, pediatrics, children, side effects, and postoperative pain.Results And ConclusionData from 62 studies were reviewed. The strategies that could effectively prevent and reduce opioid side effects in pediatric patients during the postoperative period included minimizing the amount of opioid consumption by a multimodal approach, opioid titration, using local anesthetic techniques and providing the specific prophylaxis for each side effect.© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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