Mock MRI: reducing the need for anaesthesia in children.
BACKGROUND
With a longer waiting list for paediatric MRI performed under general anaesthesia (GA) and considering safety concerns, the Royal Children's Hospital Brisbane established a mock MRI service. The aim of this service is to reduce the requirement for MRI under GA.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the percentage of children ages 3 years to 14 years in the study period that required general anaesthesia would be less with mock MRI when compared to standard practise.


METHODS
A retrospective audit of clinical data was conducted to examine the impact of mock MRI on the GA rate for clinical MRI.


RESULTS
Results indicated the addition of a mock MRI reduced the need for GA most significantly for children ages 3 to 8 years. In this age group, the rate of GA was 16.8% lower than that of the non-mock MRI group (P = <0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Mock MRI reduces the need for GA in children with the greatest effect evident in children aged between 3 and 8 years.
Carter
Amanda J
AJ
Department of Occupational Therapy, Royal Children's Hospital, Level 3 Coles Health Services Building, Herston Road, Queensland, Australia. Amanda_Carter@health.qld.gov.au
Greer
Mary-Louise C
ML
Gray
Simon E
SE
Ware
Robert S
RS
D000293:Adolescent; D000758:Anesthesia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005239:Fear; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010372:Pediatrics; D012189:Retrospective Studies