• Rev Chil Pediatr · Mar 2016

    [Use of opioids in palliative care of children with advanced cancer].

    • Belem Fernández Urtubia, Antonella Trevigno Bravo, Natalie Rodríguez Zamora, Chery Palma Torres, and Luis Cid Barria.
    • Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
    • Rev Chil Pediatr. 2016 Mar 1; 87 (2): 96-101.

    IntroductionDespite advances in the treatment of cancer in paediatric patients, 15% of children die from the illness progression in Chile, and pain is the most significant symptom in advanced stages. Although the World Health Organization guidelines demonstrate that opioids are fundamental in pain management, there is still resistance to their use. The main objective of this article was to describe the experience in the use of opioids for pain management in paediatric patients with advanced cancer in palliative care (PC).Patients And MethodRetrospective study of patients admitted into the PC Program at the Hospital Roberto del Río between 2002 and 2013. Analysis was carried out on demographic data; oncological diagnosis; pain intensity on admission and discharge, according to validated scales; use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; weak opioids; strong opioids; adjuvants drugs; the presence of secondary effects resulting from the use of morphine, and the need for palliative sedation.ResultsOf the 99 medical records analysed, the median age was 8 years, 64.6% were male, and there was a similar distribution in three oncological diagnosis groups. Upon admission, 43.4% presented intense to severe pain, and upon discharge there were four patients, but with a maximum VAS score of 7 in only one case. Of the 66 patients taking strong opioids, 89% required less than 0.5mg/kg/hr. Constipation was the most frequently observed secondary effect.ConclusionsTwo thirds of the patients studied required strong opioids, with which adequate pain management was achieved, with no serious complications observed. The use of opioids in this group of patients, following a protocol, is considered effective and safe.Copyright © 2015 Sociedad Chilena de Pediatría. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…