Patient-Controlled Analgesia Proves Safe in Children

SEATTLE--In a retrospective study of 39 children (aged 4 to 12years) given patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) for pain associatedwith bone marrow transplantation (BMT), researchers found that95% of children successfully mastered PCA to control their pain.

"We observed no instances of drug misuse, parental tampering,accidental overdose, or difficulty weaning from opioids,"said Peter J. Dunbar, MB, ChB, and his colleagues at the FredHutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of WashingtonSchool of Medicine.

The research team concluded that opioid PCA, with or without continuousinfusion, over several days or weeks is safe and effective forpreteen children with BMT-related pain (J Pain Symptom Manage10:604-611, 1995).