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PEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA

Patient-Controlled Epidural Analgesia in Children: Can They Do It?

Patrick K. Birmingham, MD DABA, FAAP^*, Melissa Wheeler, MD DABA, FAAP, DABPM^*, Santhanam Suresh, MD DABA, FAAP^*, Richard M. Dsida, MD DABA, FAAP^*, Bronwyn R. Rae, MBBS FANZCA, DCH (Lond), DABA^*, Jennifer Obrecht, RN MS, APN, Vicki A. Andreoni, RN MS, APN, Steven C. Hall, MD DABA, FAAP^*, and Charles J. Coté, MD DABA, FAAP^*,

Departments of *Anesthesiology, Nursing, and Pediatrics, Children’s Memorial Hospital at Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Patrick K. Birmingham, MD, Department of Pediatric Anesthesiology #19, Children’s Memorial Hospital, 2300 Children’s Plaza, Chicago, IL 60614. Address e-mail to pbirming{at}northwestern.edu

Extensive clinical experience and many studies support the use of IV patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA) and regional anesthesia techniques for the treatment of postoperative pain in children. In contrast, little has been reported about the ability of children to use patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) or about the efficacy of this technique. We report a descriptive analysis of prospectively recorded data in 128 children (132 procedures) in whom PCEA was used for acute postoperative pain control. Satisfactory analgesia was obtained in 119 patients (90.1%) for up to 103 h with no episodes of desaturation and without clinical evidence of toxicity or serious adverse effects. Analgesia was satisfactory with the initial settings in 89 patients; in 38 others, this was achieved with changes in PCEA settings or solution. Five patients were switched to IV PCA because of inadequate analgesia. Eight patients with satisfactory analgesia were converted to IV PCA because of adverse effects. Children as young as 5 yr had the cognitive ability to understand and the willingness to use PCEA, consistent with reported use of IV PCA. Careful attention should be paid to the total hourly local anesthetic dose to avoid exceeding the recommended limits. Our prospectively collected data demonstrate that PCEA provides satisfactory analgesia with a small incidence of adverse side effects in children and should be considered along with other strategies in pediatric postoperative pain management.

IMPLICATIONS: A descriptive analysis of prospectively recorded data in 132 children receiving patient-controlled epidural analgesia for postoperative pain relief demonstrates satisfactory analgesia without serious toxicity or side effects in children as young as 5 yr. This modality should be considered as another strategy in pediatric postoperative pain management.

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Anesthesia & Analgesia® is published for the International Anesthesia Research Society® by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins with the assistance of Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press®. Copyright 2006 by the International Anesthesia Research Society. Online ISSN: 1526-7598   Print ISSN: 0003-2999