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Updated: Aug 9, 2026
Electrophysiological Measurements and Analysis of Nociception in Human Infants
Published on: December 20, 2011
Sensorial saturation: an effective analgesic tool for heel-prick in preterm infants: a prospective randomized trial
C V Bellieni1, G Buonocore, A Nenci
1Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Reproduction Medicine, University of Siena, Italy. bellieni@iol.it
Insights
Multisensorial stimulation (SS) and oral glucose with sucking provide pain relief for preterm infants. SS demonstrated superior analgesic effects compared to other methods, offering a simple NICU intervention.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pain management
- Developmental neuroscience
Background:
- Painful procedures in preterm infants can negatively impact central nervous system (CNS) development.
- Non-pharmacological interventions are sought to mitigate pain and its consequences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the analgesic efficacy of multisensorial stimulation (SS) in preterm infants.
- To compare SS with other interventions like oral glucose and sucking.
Main Methods:
- A randomized prospective study involving 17 preterm infants (28-35 weeks gestational age).
- Pain during heel-prick was assessed using a validated scale across five conditions: control, oral glucose plus sucking, SS, oral water, and oral glucose.
- SS involved tactile, vestibular, gustative, olfactory, auditory, and visual stimuli.
Main Results:
- Both SS and sucking with oral glucose significantly reduced pain compared to the control group (p < 0.001).
- SS showed a statistically significant greater analgesic effect than sucking with oral glucose (p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
- Multisensorial stimulation is an effective and simple analgesic method for preterm infants in the NICU.
- SS promotes positive nurse-infant interaction, enhancing its clinical utility.
Abstract:
Pain is traumatic for preterm infants and can damage their CNS. We wanted to assess whether multisensorial stimulation can be analgesic and whether this effect is only due to oral glucose or sucking. We performed a randomized prospective study, using a validated acute pain rating scale to assess pain during heel-prick combined with five different procedures: (A) control, (B) 10% oral glucose plus sucking, (C) sensorial saturation (SS), (D) oral water, and (E) 10% oral glucose. SS is a multisensorial stimulation consisting of delicate tactile, vestibular, gustative, olfactory, auditory and visual stimuli. Controls did not receive any analgesia. We studied 85 heel-pricks (5 per baby) performed for routine blood samples in 17 preterm infants (28-35 weeks of gestational age). We applied in random order in each patient the five procedures described above and scored pain. SS and sucking plus oral glucose have the greater analgesic effect with respect to no intervention (p < 0.001). The effect of SS is statistically better than that of glucose plus sucking (p < 0.01). SS promotes interaction between nurse and infant and is a simple effective form of analgesia for the NICU.
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