Effectiveness of intravenous infusion of lidocaine for postoperative analgesia in children after various types of surgical interventions

Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of intravenous infusion of lidocaine for postoperative analgesia in abdominal surgery among adult patients. However, this approach is rarely used among pediatric patients. Aim - to conduct a comparative evaluation of various methods of postoperative analgesia and their effects on the dynamics of pain intensity indicators and the cumulative daily dose of morphine in pediatric patients after various types of surgical interventions. Materials and methods. We examined 150 children who underwent trauma (I group, n=40), abdominal (II group, n=48), and urological (III group, n=62) surgical interventions. Each group was divided into two subgroups. Children received intravenous lidocaine as a component of multimodal analgesia in the perioperative period in subgroups Ib (n=17), IIb (n=19), and IIIb (n=24). Children were not prescribed lidocaine in control groups Ia (n=23), IIa (n=29), and IIIa (n=38). To assess the intensity of postoperative pain, a numerical rating scale (NRS) was used. Statistical processing of the obtained data was carried out using the SPSS 21 statistical information processing package (©SPSS Inc.). Results. The results of our study show that the intensity of pain was significantly lower in the early period of observation (from 3 to 9 hours) and the intermediate period (24 hours) of the postoperative period, but not in the late period of observation (48 hours and more). The impact of systemic administration of lidocaine on the reduction of pain at rest after trauma surgical interventions has not been determined. Postoperative systemic use of lidocaine in children reduced the average cumulative daily dose of morphine during the 1st day after all types of surgical interventions. Conclusions. This study demonstrated the efficacy of intravenous infusion of lidocaine in the treatment of postoperative pain syndrome in pediatric patients. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of all participating institutions. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.