Assessment of stress response attenuation with caudal morphine using a surrogate marker during pediatric cardiac surgery.

Background: Measurement of biomarkers representing sympathetic tone and the surgical stress response are helpful for objective comparison of anesthetic protocols.

Aims: The primary aim was to compare changes in chromogranin A levels following pump pediatric cardiac surgery between children who received bolus caudal morphine and those who received a conventional intravenous narcotic-based anesthesia regime. The secondary objectives were to compare hemodynamic responses to skin incision and the magnitude of the rise in blood sugar values between the groups.