An audit of adverse events in children sedated with chloral hydrate or propofol during imaging studies |
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Authors: | CRAIG MEROLA MD CYNTHIA ALBARRACIN RN PHILIP LEBOWITZ MD ROBERT S. BIENKOWSKI PhD SAMUEL M. BARST MD |
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Affiliation: | *Departments of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics, Schneider Children's Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, The Long Island Campus for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde Park, New York 11040, USA |
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Abstract: | We examined records of sedations provided by the paediatric anaesthesiology staff for 455 children (ages 1 mo-17 yr) undergoing MRI or CT scans at our institution over a twelve-month period with regard to the monitoring of adverse events: excessive sedation, agitation, vomiting, hypoxaemia, and major airway compromise. One hundred-and-thirty-one patients (29%) received chloral hydrate; 324 patients (71%) received propofol. All patients were monitored with continuous noninvasive pulse oximetry and received supplemental oxygen via nasal cannulae. Of the patients who received chloral hydrate, 64 (49%) were over one year of age; of the patients who received propofol, 318 (98%) were one year of age or older. In the chloral hydrate group, 23 patients (19%) were deemed excessively sedated and four patients (3%) were agitated; no patients in the propofol group experienced any of the adverse outcomes reviewed. Furthermore, no patients in either group had significant airway compromise and none was admitted to the hospital as a result of the sedation. |
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Keywords: | chloral hydrate CT MRI propofol |
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