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Trends in Pediatric Pain: Thinking Beyond Opioids
Charlotte M Walter1, Niekoo Abbasian1, Vanessa A Olbrecht1
1Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, MLC 2001, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3026, USA.
Anesthesiology Clinics
|August 15, 2020
Summary
Pediatric pain management is shifting away from opioids, utilizing regional anesthesia and nonopioid medications. These strategies, including advanced nerve blocks and virtual reality, enhance recovery and safety in children.
Area of Science:
- Anesthesiology and Pain Management
- Pediatric Surgery
Background:
- Opioid use in pediatric pain management presents risks.
- There is a growing need for effective, non-opioid pain relief strategies in children.
- Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are increasingly important in pediatric surgical care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current trends in pediatric pain management beyond opioids.
- To highlight the role of regional anesthesia and nonopioid medications in pediatric pain control.
- To discuss emerging technologies like virtual reality for acute pain management in children.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on pediatric pain management techniques.
- Analysis of regional anesthetic techniques including quadratus lumborum (QL) and erector spinae plane (ESP) blocks.
- Evaluation of nonopioid pharmacologic options and adjuvant use in pediatric nerve blocks.
- Inclusion of virtual reality as a non-pharmacologic intervention.
Main Results:
- Regional anesthetic techniques like QL and ESP blocks show efficacy and safety in pediatric patients.
- Motor-sparing extremity blocks are utilized for targeted pain relief.
- Nonopioid medications and adjuvants are key components of opioid-sparing strategies.
- Virtual reality demonstrates potential as an adjunct for acute pediatric pain management.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric pain management is evolving towards opioid-sparing multimodal approaches.
- Regional anesthesia and nonopioid pharmacotherapy are central to modern pediatric pain control.
- Innovative methods like virtual reality offer promising adjunctive pain management solutions for children.
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