And they are consistent with previous studies in animals and adults showing that injury and tissue damage can influence behavioral responses to painful events months after the wound has healed. Investigators speculate that the pain of circumcision may cause changes in the infant's central neural processing of painful stimuli. They suggest that peripheral noxious stimulation may lead to the sensitization of neuronal cells in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, and in so doing alter their reaction to future pain stimuli. We can no longer make this assumption. Babies are just as worthy of analgesics as everybody else and we should make every effort to find ways of using them safely and effectively in this group.
Circumcision is the most common surgical procedure performed on Canadian newborns.
31 December, 1998.