Is morphine an effective analgesic for procedural pain in infants?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A blinded randomised placebo-controlled trial investigating the efficacy of morphine analgesia for procedural pain in infants
IRAS ID
154823
Contact name
Eleri Adams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Eudract number
2014-003237-25
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Pain in babies has negative consequences, both immediately and in the longer-term. As babies cannot describe their pain the measurement and treatment of pain is difficult and, compared to adults and older children, pain is under-treated in this group. Given that a baby requiring intensive care will experience an average of 12 painful procedures per day and, the youngest and sickest babies may experience 50 procedures per day, this is a serious clinical issue that urgently needs to be addressed.
The aim of this study is to test whether morphine can provide effective pain relief in babies during invasive medical procedures. While morphine is frequently given to adults when they experience pain, it is not known whether morphine provides effective pain relief for acute pain inbabies
An example of a painful procedure that is frequently and regularly performed on premature babies is an eye exam that tests for Retinopathy of Prematurity – this is a disease which if untreated can lead to permanent blindness. Although the exam is considered to be painful and can result in unstable breathing and heartbeat for up to 24 hours after the exam, the pain relief currently provided during this procedure has limited efficacy.
In this study we use clinical pain assessment tools to measure pain in babies during the eye exam and during a blood test. We will test whether babies who are given morphine experience less pain, and whether this improves the clinical stability of the babies after the procedure. We will also use some newly developed brain-imaging techniques to observe how morphine can affect pain-related brain activity. Given that babies cannot tell us when they are in pain, this is an important new approach which will help us understand how the infant brain processes pain and whether morphine can effectively reducing patterns of pain-related brain activity.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0310
Date of REC Opinion
23 Jul 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion