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Treating pediatric post‐tonsillectomy pain and nausea with complementary and alternative medicine
Author(s) -
Keefe Katherine R.,
Byrne Kevin J.,
Levi Jessica R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1002/lary.27231
Subject(s) - medicine , aromatherapy , homeopathy , cochrane library , tonsillectomy , acupuncture , nausea , psychological intervention , medline , alternative medicine , systematic review , intensive care medicine , physical therapy , randomized controlled trial , surgery , psychiatry , pathology , political science , law
Objectives Although tonsillectomy is a common and largely safe procedure, pain management in children remains a controversial topic. In addition to the challenge of choosing appropriate analgesia, there is often low parent and child adherence. This article presents a review, and evaluates the potential role, of a range of complementary and alternative therapies that may be sought out by parents. Methods A literature review of complementary and alternative interventions performed using PubMed, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE, supplemented by searches from Google and hand searches of cross‐references of selected articles, yielded 32 studies for qualitative analysis. Results The studies included for analysis investigated a wide variety of alternative treatment modalities: acupuncture and related therapies, aromatherapy, homeopathy, honey, intravenous fluid, speech therapy, hyaluronic acid, behavioral therapies, ice/cold, hydrogen peroxide rinse, and chewing gum. Conclusion At this time, stronger conclusions cannot be made about the therapies investigated because there are many methodology limitations of the studies analyzed. However, our results suggest merit for these treatments as adjuvant therapies that can enhance analgesia and decrease requirements of controversial medications. Honey and acupuncture have the greatest amount of evidence for postoperative pain and nausea; however, all interventions examined were cost‐effective and safe. We recommend against hydrogen peroxide rinses and chewing gum. Laryngoscope , 2625–2634, 2018