Nalbuphine for the Treatment of Opioid Induced Pruritus in Children

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2004-12-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Itching is a frequent and disturbing side effect of the use of pain medication such as morphine. In the post-operative period, it can be more distressing to pediatric patients than their pain. The current first line treatment, an antihistamine (Benadryl), has a low efficacy. This treatment causes sleepiness and may be dangerous when used in combination with other drugs.

Nalbuphine has analgesic properties similar to morphine as well as the ability to reverse some morphine-induced side effects, such as respiratory depression and itching. Nalbuphine has been used effectively for patients undergoing Caesarean sections. However, the effectiveness of nalbuphine in the pediatric population has not been investigated.

We want to determine the efficacy of nalbuphine in the treatment of itching after morphine for postoperative pain relief. We will use a novel method to measure the effect of the treatment using an intensity scale before and after the drug, to determine the intensity difference.

• Phase: Phase 3
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University of British Columbia
• Treatments: Nalbuphine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Postoperative morphine administration