Abstract:

Objective: Postoperative pain and pediatric emergence delirium (ED) are early-postoperative negative behaviours. However it is very difficult to diferentiate each other. The aim of the present study is to compare the utility of “Face, legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability” (FLACC) and Objective Pain Scale (OPS) in differentiating the pain and ED in the early postoperative period. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted at a university hospital. Sixty one (61) children were included in this study. General anesthesia was provided for all children. The incidence of ED was evaluated with PAED scale, the incidence of pain was evaluated with both FLACC and OPS scales in the early postoperative period.  Results: Only the number of children with delirium were 29 (47.5%), with pain were 10 (16.4%) and with both delirium and pain were 25 (40.9%). For FLACC, the area under the curve (AUC = 0.914, p = 0.02) at the 5th minute and the area under the curve value (AUC = 0.865, p < 0.001) at the 15th minute was high. Conclusions: The utility of FLACC is better than OPS in differentiating pain and emergence delirium in the postoperative period in pediatric patients. 

Keywords: