title: Oral chloral hydrate provides effective and safe sedation in paediatric magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: Sedation is routinely required for successful Magnetic Resonance imaging in infants and children. Five hundred and ninety-six paediatric patients (270 female and 326 male, age (mean +/- SD) 41 +/- 30 months and weight 14.8 +/- 6.5 kg) entered an open, non-comparative, prospective study to assess oral chloral hydrate sedation in a large and homogeneous paediatric population undergoing Magnetic Resonance imaging. Chloral hydrate syrup 70 mg/ml was administered 20-40 min prior to the procedure. Effective sedation was reached in 94.1% with a total dose (mean +/- SEM) of 68 +/- 1 mg/kg (range 20-170 mg/kg). Statistical analysis of sedation failures vs. successful examinations after the total dose showed significant differences for dose (62 +/- 4 vs. 69 +/- 1 mg/kg; P < 0.05), age (64 +/- 7 vs. 40 +/- 1 months; P < 0.001) and weight (19.8 +/- 1.5 vs. 14.5 +/- 0.0 kg; P < 0.001). Effectiveness fell to around 80% in children with encephalic white matter alterations, medullary tumours or syringohydromyela (P = 0.07). The mean time of onset of sedation was 26 +/- 1 min, and the mean time to spontaneous awakening after the completion of the Magnetic Resonance examination was 38 +/- 2 min. Fifty-nine children (9.9%) experienced adverse reactions, with nausea and vomiting being the most common (n = 41), followed by nervousness and unusual excitement (n = 6). Discriminant function analysis identified age and total dose as the quantitative variables helping to differentiate between sedation failures and satisfactory examinations (sensitivity = 0.73, and specificity = 0.61; r = 0.20, P < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Colegio Universitario CEU San Pablo, University of Valencia, Moncada, Spain.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Ronchera-Oms
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casillas
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martí-Bonmatí
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poyatos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tomás
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sobejano
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Jiménez
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002697:Chloral Hydrate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016292:Procedural Sedation; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011292:Premedication; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D002697:Chloral Hydrate