Intramuscular injections in newborns: analgesic treatment and sex-linked response.

AIM: To compare the analgesic effect of three treatments to relieve the pain produced by intramuscular injections (IMI) in term newborns, and to assess sex-linked differences in their response to pain. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 62 babies. Each baby received antibiotic IMIs for clinical aims. During each IMI, one of the following analgesic treatments was utilized: oral 33% glucose (OG), sensorial saturation (SS), or topic anesthetic cream (TAC). SS is a validated analgesic method, based on the combination of three stimulations (tactile, acoustic and gustative). During the IMI, pain level was assessed with the use of the DAN scale, a validated neonatal pain scale. All babies who received three distinct analgesic procedures for three distinct IMIs were enrolled. Mean pain scores of the three analgesic treatment groups were compared. We then compared mean pain scores of females vs males in the whole cohort and within each treatment group. RESULTS: The 95% Confidence Intervals of pain scores were 5.6-6.5 for TAC, 1.4-2.3 for OG and 0.6-1.2 for SS: when treated with TAC, babies' pain scores were significantly higher than with OG or SS (p <0.0001); when treated with OG, babies' pain scores were higher than SS (p = 0.002). Females' mean pain score was significantly higher than males' mean pain score: (95% CI: 2.9-4.1 vs 2.0-3.1; p = 0.01). OG and SS produced significantly higher mean DAN scores in females than in males. Also in the TAC group females' mean DAN scores were higher than males, though this last difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to show the effectiveness of nonpharmacologic analgesia in relieving IMI pain. It is also the first study to clearly show that the sex differences in pain perception are present since birth.

Oral ranitidine as prophylaxis for gastric stress ulcers in intensive care unit patients: serum concentrations and cost comparisons.

OBJECTIVES: a) To determine whether enteral ranitidine in intensive care unit (ICU) patients would produce serum levels that would reduce stimulated gastric acid by > or = 50%, and b) to evaluate the differences in cost between enteral and parenteral administration of ranitidine. DESIGN: Prospective, nonrandomized clinical trial. SETTING: A surgical ICU in a public primary teaching hospital for a medical school. PATIENTS: Postoperative or posttraumatic surgical patients who met one or more main criteria for stress. INTERVENTIONS: Two groups of patients were given ranitidine through a nasogastric tube. Group 1 (n = 10) received 150 mg every 12 hrs, and group 2 (n = 8) received 300 mg every 12 hrs. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Serum samples for measurement of ranitidine concentrations were collected at 2, 6, and 12 hrs after the fifth dose of oral ranitidine. Patients were monitored for upper gastrointestinal bleeding. All patients had therapeutic serum ranitidine concentrations at 2 and 6 hrs, while 88% of patients had therapeutic levels at 12 hrs. CONCLUSIONS: a) Enteral administration of ranitidine every 12 hrs leads to effective absorption of the drug from the upper gastrointestinal tract of ICU patients. b) Serum concentrations of ranitidine for both 150-mg and 300-mg enteral doses remained within, or exceeded, the therapeutic range in > 90% of ICU patients with clinically important criteria of stress.

Prospective, randomized trial of rapid venous access for patients in hypovolemic shock.

The placement of central venous catheters was studied prospectively in 138 selected adult patients with hypovolemic shock or in whom rapid volume replacement was needed. The patients were randomized into two groups to receive a central vein catheter: one by basilic vein cutdown and the other by percutaneous subclavian vein placement. The groups were analyzed for success rate, time required for insertion, and complications. The techniques were equally successful (87% in the basilic vein group compared with 91% in the subclavian vein group), and their complication rates were similar (10% compared with 12%). The subclavian vein catheter was inserted more quickly (8.3 minutes compared with 14.4 minutes [P = .0001] for the basilic vein group). Percutaneous subclavian vein catheters can be used successfully in patients with hypovolemic shock and can be place quickly with low complication rates.