Bupivacaine infiltration in children for postoperative analgesia after tonsillectomy: A randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND Adenotonsillectomy is a frequently performed procedure in paediatric day-case surgery. Postoperative pain can be significant and standard analgesia protocols are often insufficient. OBJECTIVE Our primary objective was to investigate if infiltration of the peritonsillar space with bupivacaine would reduce the need for postoperative opioids compared with pre-emptive intravenous tramadol. DESIGN A double-blind, randomised controlled trial. SETTING Ambulatory surgical day care centre, University Hospitals of Leuven, Belgium, from January 2012 to September 2016. PATIENTS Two hundred children, between 4 and 10 years old, undergoing elective adenotonsillectomy were included in the study. INTERVENTION Children were randomly allocated to receive either a bolus of 3 mg kg−1 intravenous tramadol or infiltration of the tonsillar lodge with 5-ml bupivacaine 0.25%. Reasons for exclusion were American Society of Anesthesiologists classification greater than 2, allergies to the investigated products, psychomotor retardation, bleeding disorders and lack of proficiency in Flemish. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary endpoint was the number of children in need of piritramide postoperatively. Secondary outcomes included the cumulative dose of postoperative piritramide, pain scores and the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting during the first 24 postoperative hours, time to discharge and adverse effects. RESULTS The proportion of children in need of postoperative piritramide was significantly lower in the tramadol group than in children with peritonsillar infiltration (57 vs. 81%, P 

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