Arch Pediat Adol Med
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Arch Pediat Adol Med · Apr 1999
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialAnalgesia and sedation in preterm neonates who require ventilatory support: results from the NOPAIN trial. Neonatal Outcome and Prolonged Analgesia in Neonates.
Preterm neonates are exposed to multiple painful procedures after birth and exhibit acute physiological responses to pain. Occurrence of early intraventricular hemorrhage within 24 to 72 hours after birth suggests a role of pain and stress in the multifactorial causation of severe intraventricular hemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia. We proposed that such neurologic outcomes in preterm neonates who require ventilatory support may be reduced by morphine analgesia or midazolam sedation compared with a placebo. ⋯ This pilot trial suggests that preemptive analgesia given by continuous low-dose morphine infusion may reduce the incidence of poor neurologic outcomes in preterm neonates who require ventilatory support. Limitations in the sample size of this pilot study suggest that these results should be confirmed in a large multicenter randomized trial.