Preemptive analgesic effectiveness of single dose intravenous ibuprofen in infants undergoing cleft palate repair: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background Correction surgery for cleft palate is recommended between 9 and 18\u2009months of age. Patients suffer from acute pain after palatoplasty. Clinicians are hesitant to use opioids for analgesia concerning the potential high risk of respiratory adverse events. Intravenous ibuprofen perhaps be a suitable adjuvant to pain relief. We try to assess whether preoperative administration of intravenous ibuprofen can decrease opioid requirements following cleft palate repair in infants. Methods This single center prospective randomized clinical trial was performed from February to April 2021 at Department of Anesthesiology in Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. Forty patients ASA I-II, aged 9–24\u2009months with isolated cleft palate and undergoing palatoplasty were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive either a single dose of 10\u2009mg/kg ibuprofen intravenously or normal saline at induction. Children and infants postoperative pain scale (CHIPPS) was used for pain assessment. Those patients CHIPPS pain score equal or higher than 4 received analgesic rescue with titrating intravenous fentanyl 0.5 μg/kg and repeated in 10\u2009min if required. The primary outcome was the amount of postoperative fentanyl used for rescue analgesia in postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Results Patients ( n \xa0=\u200920 in each group) in IV-Ibuprofen group required less postoperative fentanyl than those in placebo group ( p <0.001). There was no significant difference between two groups in first rescue analgesia time ( p \xa0=\u20090.079) and surgical blood loss ( p \xa0=\u20090.194). No incidence of obvious adverse events had been found within the first 24\u2009h after surgery in both groups. Conclusions Preemptive intravenous administration ibuprofen 10\u2009mg/kg at induction had a significant opioid sparing effect in early postoperative period without obvious adverse effects in infants undergoing palatoplasty. Trial registration CHICTR, CTR2100043718, 27/02/2021 http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=122187