title: Persistent cardiac arrhythmias in pediatric patients: effects of age, expired carbon dioxide values, depth of anesthesia, and airway management.
abstract: The presence of persistent arrhythmias was correlated with hypercarbia (end-tidal CO2 greater than or equal to 55 mm Hg for greater than or equal to 60 s). A continuous strip chart recording of oxygen saturation, a capnogram, and an electrocardiogram were obtained from 402 children. No episodes of arrhythmia occurred in 153 patients younger than 2 yr compared with 24 patients 2 yr of age or older (P = 0.0001). Older patients whose airways were managed via a mask had a higher incidence (13.2% [21 of 159 patients]) than tracheally intubated patients (3.3% [3 of 90 patients]) (P = 0.01). In older patients whose tracheas were intubated, hypercarbia was associated with arrhythmia in 1 of 20 hypercarbia episodes. Seven of 16 patients with hypercarbia, whose airways were managed via a mask, had an arrhythmia (P = 0.0014); in eight, arrhythmias were associated with light anesthesia; in seven, arrhythmias were not associated with either hypercarbia or light anesthesia. Arrhythmias developed in 13 of 55 patients 2 yr old or older whose airways were managed via a mask and who were undergoing orchiopexy or herniorrhaphy as compared with 1 of 30 tracheally intubated patients (P = 0.016). There was a higher incidence of arrhythmias during halothane anesthesia compared with that during all other techniques (P = 0.035). The authors conclude that the incidence of arrhythmias is extremely low in infants younger than 2 yr. Hypercarbia is associated with arrhythmias in pediatric patients whose airways are managed via a mask but not in patients whose tracheas are intubated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rolf
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Coté
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal; D008397:Masks; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative / Q000379:methods; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D013990:Tidal Volume