Future roles of artificial intelligence in early pain management of newborns.

The advent of increasingly sophisticated medical technology, surgical interventions, and supportive healthcare measures is raising survival probabilities for babies born premature and/or with life-threatening health conditions. In the United States, this trend is associated with greater numbers of neonatal surgeries and higher admission rates into neonatal intensive care units (NICU) for newborns at all birth weights. Following surgery, current pain management in NICU relies primarily on narcotics (opioids) such as morphine and fentanyl (about 100 times more potent than morphine) that lead to a number of complications, including prolonged stays in NICU for opioid withdrawal.