The Effects of Intraoperative Methadone on Postoperative Pain Control in Pediatric Patients: A Scoping Review

Inadequate perioperative pain control has deleterious effects on children's development and can lead to heightened pain experiences and the avoidance of future medical procedures. Reports of perioperative use of methadone in children are increasing, as it has a favorable pharmacodynamic profile; however, the effectiveness of methadone in reducing postoperative pain has not been established. We, therefore, aimed to provide a scoping review of the literature comparing the effect of intraoperative methadone versus other opioids on postoperative opioid consumption, pain scores, and adverse events in pediatric patients. We identified studies in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases from inception to January 2023. Postoperative opioid consumption, pain scores, and adverse events were extracted for analysis. We screened 1864 studies, of which 83 studies were selected for full-text review. Five studies were included in the final analysis. Postoperative opioid consumption was decreased overall in children who received methadone compared to those who did not. The majority of studies indicated that methadone was superior to other opioids in reported pain scores, while the frequency of adverse events was similar between the groups. Although the data reviewed highlight a potential benefit of intraoperative methadone in pediatric patients, 4 of the 5 studies had serious methodological concerns. Thus, we cannot make strong recommendations for the regular use of methadone in the perioperative setting at this time. Our results highlight the need for large, well-designed randomized trials to fully evaluate the safety and efficacy of intraoperative methadone in diverse pediatric surgical populations.