Acute paediatric pain. Review

SummaryIn the 1970s and 1980s postoperative pain in children to a large extent was either ignored or under treated as compared with adults. It has been documented that this may have (serious) implications for the children in the immediate postoperative period as well as in the longer perspective. The diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of pain in children is therefore very important. This short review of pain assessment and the different modalities of pain treatment in children concludes that the means and techniques for the safe prevention and control of moderate and severe postoperative pain in all children are available. The main task is to organize and implement the present knowledge. The safety of analgesic therapy has improved partly with the development of new drugs but mainly by a better understanding of the pharmaco-kinetics and -dynamics of well-known drugs in neonates, infants and children, and in disease states. The present knowledge should be implemented at all levels of the health care system. In more complex cases, management by a multidisciplinary acute pain team with paediatric expertise is the most effective approach.