Clearance of Morphine in Postoperative Infants During Intravenous Infusion

Morphine removal from the body is slow in newborns but increases to reach adult values in the first months of life. Calculating the clearance of morphine from blood samples drawn during continuous i.v. infusions after surgery shows that this maturation occurs more quickly in infants undergoing noncardiac surgery (by 1-3 mo of age) than in those receiving morphine after cardiac surgery (by 6-12 mo of age).