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ARTICLES: Franz E. Babl, Christopher Goldfinch, Christine Mandrawa, Dianne Crellin, Ronan O'Sullivan, and Susan Donath Does Nebulized Lidocaine Reduce the Pain and Distress of Nasogastric Tube Insertion in Young Children? A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Pediatrics 2009; 123: 1548-1555 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Does Nebulized Lidocaine Reduce the Pain and Distress of Nasogastric Tube Insertion in Young Childre

Jose Ramon Perez-Valdivieso   (15 June 2009)

Does Nebulized Lidocaine Reduce the Pain and Distress of Nasogastric Tube Insertion in Young Childre 15 June 2009
Jose Ramon Perez-Valdivieso, Ph.D. ,M.D. Clinica Universidad de Navarra. Spain. Send letter to journal: Re: Does Nebulized Lidocaine Reduce the Pain and Distress of Nasogastric Tube Insertion in Young Childre jrpvaldi{at}unav.es Jose Ramon Perez-Valdivieso	To the editor, Babl et al. recently investigated the role of nebulized lidocaine in reducing pain and distress of nasogastric tube insertion in young children. I acknowledge the efforts made by the authors in such work, moreover being a clinical trial focus on children. However, I believe that the present study is hampered due to several method errors. First of all, the recruitment levels were very low and susceptible to be biased (84 non-consecutive patients in an estimated population of 388) and there were a large number of refusing consents (29/84). On the other hand, I found that the assessment of the pain and distress score was measured by different nurses, thus leading to inter- observer interpretation. Furthermore, and as authors stated in the limitations section, there could have been differences between nurses expertise during the insertion of the nasogastric tube. Nevertheless, Babl et al. should be praised for the honesty of their work and encouraged to keep investigating in children care. Conflict of Interest: None declared