Sedation for pediatric echocardiography: evaluation of preprocedure fasting guidelines.
In an effort to increase the safety of sedated procedures, there is a recent trend to increase preprocedure fasting times. However, optimal fasting times have never been established for a sedated echocardiogram. We retrospectively analyzed 334 patients divided into 2 groups. Group 1 (140 patients) had fasting times less than 2 hours, whereas group 2 (184 patients) had fasting times more than 2 hours. When the entire population was considered, there was no difference in efficacy between the 2 groups (P =.08). However, in patients younger than 6 months, group 2 had decreased efficacy compared with group 1 (P =.03). There were no major complications in either group. There was no difference in the rate of minor complications between the 2 groups. Our study concludes that longer fasting times are less efficacious in children younger than 6 months, and do not improve safety.
Ghaffar
Sadia
S
Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9018, USA.
Haverland
Cherie
C
Ramaciotti
Claudio
C
Scott
William A
WA
Lemler
Matthew S
MS
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002697:Chloral Hydrate / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D003490:Cyanosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004452:Echocardiography; D005215:Fasting; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D007223:Infant; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012449:Safety; D013997:Time Factors; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology
D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D002697:Chloral Hydrate