Sedation and general anesthesia for magnetic resonance imaging examination in children

ABSTRACT

The object of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of this sedation protocol and to emphasize that pediatric patients need MRI suite with facilities to provide general anesthesia. Nine hundred and twenty five patients underwent resonance magnetic imaging. Oral sedation was to be given to children aged 5 years and below. Oral sedation consisted of choral hydrate 90mg/kg orally. All magnetic resonance imaging request for children who failed oral sedation as well as those referred for general anesthesia were reviewed by a consultant anesthetist who then allocated patients to undergo a procedure with either general anesthesia or intravenous sedation. Intravenous sedation consisted of either propofol 0.5mg/kg bolus followed by an infusion or midazolam 0.2-0.5mg/kg. General anesthesia was given using sevoflurane, intravenous propofol induction. Five hundred and fifteen patients [57.15%] scans were done without sedation. Whereas 46 scans were performed during the consultant anesthetist supervised sessions. Oral sedation failed in 25 out of 364 patients [6.9%]. Eighty seven per cent of children aged 5 years and below needed sedation compared with 4.5% of those aged over 10 years. This study concluded the use of a structured sedation protocol for MRI scanning, as it is effective and safe