The management of pain in children with life-limiting illnesses

The management of pain in children with life-limiting illnesses is complex and unfortunately not often done effectively. Pain is a multidimensional symptom that can overshadow all other experiences of both the child and family. This article focuses on topics common to practitioners caring for children with lifelimiting illnesses, including a review of myths and obstacles to achieving adequate pain control, a review of the pathophysiology of pain, an overview of the use of opioids in children, an approach to the management of neuropathic pain, and a brief discussion of nonpharmacologic pain management strategies.

Cancer pain management in children

Unrelieved pain may have a major impact on the care of children with cancer. The type and severity of pain experienced by children with cancer varies from acute, procedure-related pain to progressive chronic pain associated with the progression of the disease or sequelae of treatment. Drugs are the mainstay of treatment. Regular pain assessments combined with appropriate analgesic administration at regular dosing intervals, adjunctive drug therapy for control of adverse effects and associated symptoms, and nonpharmacological interventions are recommended. Although standard dosing of opioids adequately treats most cancer pain in children, more complex treatment is required by a significant group. Strategies to improve analgesia include the use of epidural or intrathecal infusions of a combination of opioids and other adjuvants, or other regional anaesthesia techniques. Procedure- and treatment-related pain is an even greater problem than cancer pain. Recommendations have been published with regard to the monitoring and personnel required when children are sedated which aim to set the standard of care and minimize both physical discomfort or pain and negative psychological responses, by providing analgesia; and to maximize the potential for amnesia; and to control behaviour.

Randomised trial of oral morphine for painful episodes of sickle-cell disease in children

BACKGROUND

Oral controlled-release morphine can provide effective analgesia through a non-invasive route and may facilitate outpatient management of severe episodes of sickle-cell pain. We compared the clinical efficacy and safety of oral morphine with continuous intravenous morphine in children with severe episodes of sickle-cell pain, by a double-blind, randomised, parallel-group design.

METHODS

56 children aged 5-17 years received loading doses of intravenous morphine of up to 0.15 mg/kg, followed by randomly assigned oral morphine 1.9 mg/kg every 12 h plus intravenous placebo (saline), or intravenous morphine 0.04 mg kg-1 h-1, plus placebo tablet. Breakthrough pain was treated with oral, immediate-release morphine 0.4 mg/kg every 2-3 h as required. Pain was assessed daily at 0900 h, 1300 h, 1700 h, and 2100 h with a picture face scale, a pictorial scale (Oucher), a behavioural-observational scale (CHEOPS), and by an investigator.

FINDINGS

50 children completed the study (28 boys, 22 girls; mean age 11.2 years [SD 3.5]; mean oral morphine dose 2.99 mg/kg daily [0.75]; mean intravenous morphine dose, 0.81 mg/kg daily [0.30]). Mean overall pain scores were similar for oral and intravenous morphine (CHEOPS, 6.3 [1.5] vs 6.4 [1.4], p = 0.8; Oucher, 31.5 [25.4] vs 39.2 [21.7], p = 0.3; Faces, 2.2 [1.4] vs 2.4 [1.3], p = 0.6; clinical rating, 1.7 [0.7] vs 1.9 [0.5], p = 0.3). Opioid analgesia was required for a mean of 4.2 days (1.7) and 5.4 days (2.6), respectively (p = 0.0591). Pain scores from all scales correlated significantly (r = 0.5865-0.8980, p = 0.0001). Frequency of rescue analgesia did not differ significantly between the oral and intravenous morphine groups (0.7 [0.8] vs 0.9 [0.7] doses daily, p = 0.2). Frequency and severity of adverse events did not differ significantly.

INTERPRETATION

Oral, controlled-release morphine is a reliable, non-invasive alternative to continuous intravenous morphine for the management of painful episodes of sickle-cell disease in children.