Anesth Pain Med.  2007 Jan;2(1):4-8.

Experience of the Pediatric Patients Consulted to Pain Center

• Lee HM
• Lee CJ
• Lee MG
• Jo JY
• Choi YS
• Kang MH
• Kim YC
• Sim SE
• Lee SC

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to investigate the management of pediatric patients who were referred to the pain center.
METHODS
The data was collected based on 32 pediatric patients referred to the pain center from March 2002 to August 2006. The number of patients each year, gender distribution, age, requested departments, clinical causes of consultation, and the pain management before and after the consultation were analyzed retrospectively.
RESULTS
32 pediatric patients (19 males and 13 females), aged 3- 17 years, were enrolled in this study. Fifty-six percent of patients were in adolescence. The major need for the consultation was cancer pain (50.0%), myofascial pain syndrome (10.0%) and central pain (10.0%). Before the consultation, 62.1% of the patients were managed by opioid-based medications of which 26.1% were managed by only partial agonists and 29.6% were managed by only PRN. At the pain center, opioid-based medication was also the main treatment.
CONCLUSIONS
The number of pediatric patients referred to the pain center has increased. Under this condition, the pain physician should be concerned about pediatric pain patients and their management.

Keyword

consultation; pain center; pediatric pain

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Age Distribution
Humans
Male
Myofascial Pain Syndromes
Pain Clinics*
Pain Management
Retrospective Studies