title: Pain during percutaneous pin removal in children with elbow fractures.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To survey caregivers with regard to the pain they perceived their children were having during the removal of the percutaneous Kirschner wires, as well as the need for analgesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  23 male and 18 female patients aged 1 to 15 (mean, 7) years who underwent closed reduction and percutaneous Kirschner wire fixation for elbow fractures and subsequent removal of the wires were included. Before the removal procedure, caregivers of these patients were asked to select one of 4 options for the procedure: no analgesia, paracetamol, sedation, and general anaesthesia. Approximately one month following the procedure, the caregivers were interviewed via telephone to retrospectively score the pain (on a scale of 1 to 10) they perceived their children were having during the removal procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean retrospective pain score given by these caregivers was 3.88. Of the 41 caregivers, 30 considered analgesia unnecessary, 10 opted for paracetamol, and only one opted for sedation. None considered general anaesthesia necessary.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For these children with elbow fractures, most caregivers considered analgesia unnecessary during the removal of percutaneous wires.
authors.affiliation: KK Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: Guan Tzu
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Tay
authors.forename: Elvin Salioc
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Lokino
authors.forename: Lling Ling
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Sharifah Nazrah Syed
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Abdullah
authors.forename: Mee Leng
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Kevin Boon Leong
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Lim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000698:Analgesia; D001864:Bone Wires; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D020878:Device Removal; D004551:Elbow Joint / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000092464:Elbow Injuries