title: Sedation for pediatric echocardiography: evaluation of preprocedure fasting guidelines.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9018, USA.
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghaffar
authors.forename: Cherie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haverland
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ramaciotti
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lemler
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D002697:Chloral Hydrate