Background: The aim of this retrospective study is to compare safety and efficacy of postoperative epidural butorphanol/bupivacaine with the gold-standard epidural analgesic infusion fentanyl/bupivacaine in children.
Methods: With the Institutional Review Board's approval, the authors searched their Pain Management Database and divided children who received epidural analgesia into two groups. Each butorphanol group subject was matched with two fentanyl group subjects. Demographic data, pain scores, epidural interventions, epidural side effects, use of rescue opioid analgesia and adjuvant analgesics, causes of epidural failure, time of first oral intake and ambulation, and length of stay were statistically compared.
Results: A total of 191 patients were identified between 2000 and 2007; 58 in epidural butorphanol/bupivacaine and 133 in fentanyl/bupivacaine groups. Demographic data were comparable between the groups. The number of children with good pain control on postoperative days 1 and 2 in butorphanol (84 and 82 percent) and fentanyl (93 and 91 percent) groups were statistically similar (p = 0.06 and 0.13, respectively). Incidences of epidural side effects, especially pruritus, were significantly higher in the fentanyl group. Significantly more children in the butorphanol group required epidural rate changes when compared with those in the fentanyl group. Incidence of failed epidurals was significantly higher in the fentanyl group when compared with that in the butorphanol group. Clinically significant respiratory depression occurred in two children in the fentanyl group and in none of the children in the butorphanol group (p > 0.99).
Conclusions: Epidural butorphanol provided similar analgesia to epidural fentanyl after urological procedures in children, but butorphanol caused less pruritus than fentanyl.
Implication statement: Epidural analgesia with butorphanol/bupivacaine is effective in children undergoing urological procedures. When compared with epidural fentanyl, epidural butorphanol causes significantly less itching.