MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- A topical spray reduces the
pain of placing intravenous (IV) lines in children, Canadian
researchers report.
The spray, called Pain Ease, reduced pain by 34 percent in
children getting IV lines when compared with a placebo group and
improved the success rate of inserting the lines, said lead
researcher Dr. William Splinter, a staff anesthesiologist and
medical director of palliative care at Children's Hospital of
Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.
"This feature is especially important when time is limited, such
as in a busy office practice or emergency department, where topical
methods of pain relief have not traditionally been available,"
Splinter said.
These results are significant as previous studies of similar
vapocoolant sprays did not show a reduction in pain during IV line
insertion in children, Splinter added.
The report is published in the July 1 issue of the
Canadian Medical Association Journal.
In the study, Splinter's team randomly assigned 80 children,
aged 6 to 12, undergoing urgent intravenous procedures, to the
spray or placebo. The effectiveness of the spray was based on the
children's own report of pain and an assessment by their parents
and the nurses of how easily the procedure went.
In addition to reducing pain, inserting the needle or tube was
more successful among patients treated with the spray, the
researchers found.
"Effective pain relief combined with improved success on first
cannulation [insertion] attempt results in fewer repeat attempts,
decreased procedure times, and improved satisfaction among
children, parents and health-care providers," Splinter said.
The spray is nontoxic, less expensive than alternatives, works
immediately, and does not require a needle, Splinter noted.
Dr. Mark Greenberg, director of pediatric anesthesia at the
University of California, San Diego, said the study leaves many
questions unanswered.
"Although there was some decrease in pain from the spray, there
were some patients who had minimal pain with the placebo spray,
suggesting just spraying anything on there might decrease pain,"
Greenberg said.
More important, the average age of the patients was probably a
big factor in the findings, Greenberg said.
"If there were younger patients, I doubt the results would be
the same. Nine-year-olds are probably the easiest patients' veins
to cannulate. They are also fairly cooperative. If you had a mean
age more like 3 to 4 years, with a significant amount of younger
patients, you would probably see very little difference between the
actual spray and placebo," Greenberg said.
In addition, the discomfort with the application of the coolant
is not reported and would likely be a significant negative issue in
younger children, Greenberg said.
"I think analgesia for IV starts in both children and adults is
long overdue. I just don't think this study conclusively showed
that using vapocoolants accomplishes this," Greenberg said.
More information
For more on hospital treatments and children, visit the
American Academy of Pediatrics.
