Effects of fentanyl on procedural pain and discomfort associated with central venous catheter insertion: A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial.

CONTEXT: Central venous catheter (CVC) insertion induces pain and discomfort to a conscious patient despite application of a local anesthetic (LA) field block and this pain can be greatly lessened by using additional analgesics.

AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of fentanyl along with LA field infiltration in controlling pain and discomfort associated with CVC insertion.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at tertiary referral center.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-four patients scheduled for planned CVC were randomly assigned to receive either fentanyl (2 μg/kg) or 0.9% normal saline. Pain and discomfort using a verbal numeric rating pain scale at 5 times points during CVC insertion were assessed and analyzed.

RESULTS: The median interquartile range pain score is worst for placebo group after LAI (5 [3-6]) and in the immediate postprocedure period (5 [4-5]) which was significantly attenuated by addition of fentanyl (3.5 [2-5] and 3 [2-4]) (P = 0.009 and 0.001 respectively). Overall, fentanyl and placebo group were not statistically different with median discomfort score except at T10 (P = 0.047).

CONCLUSIONS: Preprocedural bolus fentanyl infusion provides adequate analgesia and can be safely used for alleviating pain during CVC insertion in conscious patients.