Abstract
Even pediatric anesthesiologists were indifferent to perioperative pain management in children because they might be too concerned about the untoward effects of opioid and believe the myths that neonates and infants do not feel severe pain compared to adults because the nervous system is less developed. A lot of evidence has revealed that even neonates feel as much pain as adults and sometimes showed exaggerated reactions to pain. Since then, it is typical to give potent analgesics and/or to perform regional analgesia not only during surgery but also postoperatively. Patient-controlled analgesia is a very useful and reliable measure, especially for older children, because analgesics can be administered whenever they feel pain.
Many open surgeries have been converted to laparoscopic surgery, but the procedure has brought many disadvantages to children, and we pediatric anesthesiologists should protect physiologically immature children with accurate anatomical and physiological knowledge. Furthermore, the rule of fasting has been changed to be more patient-friendly, and the prevention of postoperative delirium after sevoflurane anesthesia has been discussed all over the world.
