A Randomized Controlled Trial to Compare Pain Medications in Children Undergoing Strabismus Surgery

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate optimal intraoperative combinations of analgesia for children undergoing strabismus surgery. Design A randomized controlled trial was employed to compare the difference in pain after administration of hydromorphone versus fentanyl. Methods Participants were randomly assigned to either arm of the study. Pain was measured by the revised Faces, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability Scale (rFLACC) tool postoperatively, and the parent was asked about the presence or absence of pain after discharge. Findings A total of 135 children were included in the study. The rFLACC pain score was found to be significantly higher postoperatively among patients receiving fentanyl (P = .011). Pain after discharge was reported more often among patients who received fentanyl (P < .001). Conclusions Results of this study can be used to change practice to minimize the pain levels both postoperatively and after discharge for children undergoing strabismus surgery. The purpose of this study was to investigate optimal intraoperative combinations of analgesia for children undergoing strabismus surgery. A randomized controlled trial was employed to compare the difference in pain after administration of hydromorphone versus fentanyl. Participants were randomly assigned to either arm of the study. Pain was measured by the revised Faces, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability Scale (rFLACC) tool postoperatively, and the parent was asked about the presence or absence of pain after discharge. A total of 135 children were included in the study. The rFLACC pain score was found to be significantly higher postoperatively among patients receiving fentanyl (P = .011). Pain after discharge was reported more often among patients who received fentanyl (P < .001). Results of this study can be used to change practice to minimize the pain levels both postoperatively and after discharge for children undergoing strabismus surgery.