Pain Medications in Children Undergoing Strabismus Surgery
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2017-04-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Every year over 1,000 children undergo eye muscle surgery provided by physicians at this
institution. For many of these children this is not and will not be the only surgical
procedure for eye muscle correction. All of these children will experience differing degrees
of postoperative pain. The pain associated with strabismus surgery is due to the manipulation
in the conjunctival area and further handling of Tenon's capsule, sclera and the stretching
of the eye muscle . Research has demonstrated that repeated painful procedures result in
increased anxiety and increased pain.
Previous studies have demonstrated that children experiencing preoperative anxiety are more
likely to have increased postoperative pain . This increased preoperative anxiety may also
contribute to sleep difficulties and increased analgesic consumption. Depending on the age of
the child, different methods are used to reduce anxiety such as distraction, child life
services, or anti-anxiolytic agents.
In addition to pain, children undergoing strabismus surgery frequently experience
postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).This increased incidence of nausea and vomiting is
thought to be related to the use of opiates for pain control. Short acting opiates are used
preferentially at this hospital in the belief that this reduces recovery issues of sedation
and PONV. Preliminary data, however, suggests no difference in recovery outcomes for fentanyl
versus hydromorphone. The purpose of this study is to investigate the optimal analgesia to
create a standardized approach for pain management in pediatric patients undergoing surgery
for strabismus.