Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialEvaluating NIR vascular imaging to support intravenous cannulation in awake children difficult to cannulate; a randomized clinical trial.
Recently, various near-infrared vascular imaging devices aimed at facilitating peripheral intravenous cannulation (PIC) were introduced, all claiming to increase success rate of PIC. We evaluated the clinical utility of a near-infrared vascular imaging device (VascuLuminator(®)) in pediatric patients who were referred to the anesthesiologist because of difficult cannulation. ⋯ Visualization of blood vessels with near-infrared light and with near-infrared vascular imaging device did not improve success of PIC in pediatric patients who are known difficult to cannulate.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialThe addition of tramadol to the standard of IV acetaminophen and morphine infusion for postoperative analgesia in neonates offers no clinical benefit: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.
Tramadol is used following neonatal cardiac and general surgery. However, its ability to opioid-spare or facilitate earlier extubation in postoperative neonates is unquantified. ⋯ Tramadol's addition to standard analgesia in this small group of postsurgical neonates did not appear to have any positive effect on time to extubation, morphine or midazolam exposure, or pain scores. This questions the benefit of tramadol for postsurgical neonates. Importantly, no seizures occurred in these ill neonates who may potentially be at greater risk of tramadol toxicity compared with adults.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2014
Comparative StudyPerception of Pediatric Pain: a comparison of postoperative pain assessments between child, parent, nurse, and independent observer.
Pain is a subjective experience. In children with limited understanding and communication skills, reliable assessment of pain is challenging. Self-reporting of pain is the gold standard of pain measurement. For children who are unable to self-report their pain, assessments made by their parents are often used as a proxy measure. The validity of this approach has not been conclusively determined. ⋯ Children's pain self-reports should be used wherever possible to guide management, but in their absence, parental pain scores can be reliably used as a surrogate measure. Nurses and independent observers produce lower pain scores than parents or children, which may result in inadequate treatment of pain.