The use of intranasal sufentanil and/or s‐ketamine for treatment of procedural pain in children in an ambulatory setting: A retrospective observational study

Background Minor but painful medical procedures are often handled at the operating room. If safe and effective treatment options are available many procedures may be performed outside of the operating room. Objective(s) The objective of this study is to assess the adverse events of intranasal s‐ketamine and/or sufentanil alone or as part of a multimodal analgesic regime for medical procedures outside of the operating room. Secondary outcomes included analgesic effect, doses and indications for use. Design Retrospective observational study. Setting Tertiary care paediatric hospital. Patients Children 1 year up till 18 years. Intervention(s) Intranasal (IN) sufentanil (S), intranasal s‐ketamine (K) or the free combination of the two drugs (SK). Main Outcome Measure(s) The frequency of adverse events including serious adverse events reported by intervention. Results Between 2004 and 2014, 2185 medical procedures were registered, including 652 procedures with IN SK, 1469 procedures with IN S and 64 procedures with IN K. The children's median age was 5.6 years (range 1.0–17.9). Medical procedures with at least one adverse event were 18% with IN SK, 25% with IN K and 18% with IN S. Common adverse events included episodes of vomiting (9%), nausea (8%) and dizziness (3%). In two patients receiving IN S, serious adverse events occurred. One patient had respiratory depression and bronchospasm and another patient with cerebral palsy had a seizure. Both were handled immediately and did not result in any sequelae. The median doses of intranasal sufentanil were 38% lower when combined with s‐ketamine (IN SK free combination: sufentanil dose 0.5 μg/kg (range 0.2–1.3) and s‐ketamine dose 0.5 mg/kg (range 0.2–1.5). IN S monotherapy, sufentanil dose 0.8 μg/kg (range 0.2–2.7)). Similar analgesic effect was reported for S and SK. Conclusions Intranasal sufentanil and/or s‐ketamine are feasible for the treatment of procedural pain in an ambulatory setting with appropriate per‐ and post‐procedural observations and trained staff.