Clinical Trials Logo

Clinical Trial Summary

POPCORN trial will compare the side effects and effectiveness of Morphine versus Oxycodone medication when prescribed for use as patient controlled analgesia (PCA) for pain relief for paediatric patients after-surgery. This trial is embedded into routine patient care using the hospital electronic medical record (EMR). Participants will be randomly assigned to either medication after they enrol in the study. The main questions the POPCORN trial aims to answer are: - 1. Is there a difference in the usage of medication to treat nausea and vomiting for those who received oxycodone PCA versus morphine PCA for post-surgery pain relief? - 2. Is there a difference in side effects or pain relief needed between the two groups? Study activities are as follows: - Participants enrolled to study during their pre-operative consultation - Participants are randomly assigned to morphine or oxycodone - No further study-specific activities expected from participant after enrolment and randomisation - Participant receives routine medical care as planned - Clinicians record assessments as per routine care in electronic medical record (EMR) - EMR data are extracted as trial data


Clinical Trial Description

Morphine and oxycodone are commonly used intravenous (IV) opioids in adult and paediatric post-operative patients. Traditionally, morphine has been preferentially prescribed with PCA. However, IV oxycodone is rapidly becoming more popular. Despite systematic reviews describing their use within the adult population, very little is known about the comparative side-effect profiles of morphine versus oxycodone within the paediatric post-operative population. Both options are currently in use and considered standard of care at The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH), Melbourne, Australia. However, there is limited literature to support a clinician's choice between IV oxycodone PCA versus IV morphine PCA. The aim of this embedded randomized controlled trial is to compare the side-effect profile of IV oxycodone PCA to IV morphine PCA in post-operative paediatric patients. This is a single site, randomised, embedded trial with two intervention arms, namely IV morphine PCA and IV oxycodone PCA. The study will not be blinded due to the need for opioid syringes to be readily identifiable on the ward. Apart from the consent and randomisation process, there will be no change to current pre-existing practices around PCA use and patient care. Adopting a health informatics approach; patient identification, consent, randomization and reporting of outcomes will be embedded within the EMR. The primary objective is to compare antiemetic use between the two intervention arms. The secondary objectives will be a comparison of PCA side effects, efficacy and opioid use between the two arms. Outcome data must be what is already recorded as part of usual clinical care within the EMR including: antiemetic administration, respiratory depression (new oxygen and/or high dose naloxone use), urinary retention (need for in-dwelling catheter insertion), constipation (medication laxative administration), itch (RCH Itch Score (0-4 Likert scale)), nausea and vomiting, sedation (0-4 University of Michigan Scoring System), pain (Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale/Visual Analogue Scale (VAS 0-10) and total opioid consumption (mg/kg/day). ;


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT06186141
Study type Interventional
Source Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Contact Justine Adams
Phone 03 8341 6200
Email justine.adams@mcri.edu.au
Status Recruiting
Phase Phase 4
Start date March 13, 2024
Completion date March 19, 2027

See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Completed NCT04082039 - Two-channel Intravenous Patient-controlled Analgesia (IV-PCA) After Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy (TLH) N/A
Recruiting NCT03014713 - Effect of Dexmedetomidine for Postoperative Intravenous Patient Controlled Analgesia Phase 4
Recruiting NCT04955249 - Dexmedetomidine Supplemented Analgesia and Delirium After Hip Fracture Surgery Phase 4
Completed NCT03221491 - Comparison of Patient-Controlled Analgesia With Different Background Infusion N/A
Completed NCT06000137 - The Comparison of the Analgesic Effects of Dezocine and Sufentanil in Patient-controlled Analgesia After Laryngectomy N/A
Completed NCT00564603 - Continuous Infusion of Dexamethasone Plus Tramadol Adjunct to Morphine PCA After Abdominal Hysterectomy Phase 4
Not yet recruiting NCT05504265 - Perioperative Analgesia Modes in Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy Phase 2/Phase 3
Recruiting NCT01158586 - Postoperative Patient Controlled Epidural Analgesia After Total Knee Arthroplasty With 2ug/ml Fentanyl Combine With 0.2% Ropivacaine or 0.2% Levobupivcaine Phase 4