An audit of adverse events in children sedated with chloral hydrate or propofol during imaging studies.
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.
Merola
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C
Department of Anesthesiology, Schneider Children's Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York 11040, USA.
Albarracin
C
C
Lebowitz
P
P
Bienkowski
R S
RS
Barst
S M
SM
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002697:Chloral Hydrate / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000009:adverse effects*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008485:Medical Audit; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D010092:Oximetry; D015742:Propofol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D002697:Chloral Hydrate; D015742:Propofol