On-Q Pump vs Epidural for Postoperative Pain Control in Children

The study design is a randomized, controlled trial to compare the effectiveness of on-q pump subcutaneous incisional analgesia to epidural analgesia for postoperative pain relief in children undergoing open abdominal, thoracic, or pelvic operations for oncologic purposes. The patient and treating team will be blinded to the pain control device. The primary outcome is additional narcotic usage for 3 post-operative days, and secondary outcomes are pain scores for 3 post-operative days, post-surgical day of ambulation, time to regular diet, infectious complications (UTI, wound infection or pneumonia), and hospital length of stay. Outcomes from both groups will be directly compared in order to determine whether one strategy provides more effective pain control with less complications than the other, or whether they are equivalent.