Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have found that intravenous morphine used alone or with a topical anaesthetic (tetracaine) effectively reduced levels of pain in newborn infants undergoing insertion of central venous catheters (central lines).
This research is reported in the February 15, 2006 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.
About 10 to 15 per cent of newborns require prolonged hospitalization for conditions such as preterm birth, congenital defects and sepsis (a blood stream infection). As part of their medical care, these infants are often exposed to multiple invasive procedures that may be painful.
"It was not so long ago that infants routinely underwent painful procedures without the benefits of analgesia. Our previous studies showed that infants do feel extreme pain, that they remember this pain and that it affects their future pain responses," said Dr. Anna Taddio, the study's lead author and principal investigator, a SickKids scientist and pharmacist, and an assistant professor of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto.
"Within the last decade, the pendulum started to swing in the other direction, and pain relievers began to be used more liberally in infants. However, more information was needed about the benefits and risks of the different treatment options. We undertook this study to determine the most effective way to manage pain in infants undergoing central line placements and to delineate the side effects associated with their use," said Dr. Taddio.