Chris Darrel Glover, MD, an associate professor of pediatrics and anesthesiology at Waco, Texas-based Baylor University, led a prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial comparing 339 patients’ pain scores and perioperative outcomes. He presented the study’s results at the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2016 annual meeting
Here’s what they found.
1. Children undergoing ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia took five minutes longer from induction to surgery, but their time from end of surgery to post-anesthesia care unit discharge was 12 minutes faster.
2. The regional anesthesia group had lower peak and mean pain scores than the IV opioid group.
3. The regional anesthesia group had significantly lower total opioid consumption than the IV opioid group.
4. Patients recorded their symptoms over 48 hours after discharge. The regional anesthesia group had lower incidences of nausea, vomiting, pruritus and respiratory depression.
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