title: Propofol sedation in children: sleep trumps amnesia.
abstract: Detailed assessments of the effects of propofol on memory in children are lacking. We assessed the feasibility of measuring memory during propofol infusion, as commonly performed in sedation for MRI scanning. In addition, we determined the onset of memory loss in relation to the onset of sedation measured by verbal responsiveness.
  
  
  
  Children scheduled for sedation for MRI received a 10-min infusion of propofol (3 mg/kg) as they viewed and named 100 simple line drawings, one shown every five seconds, until they were no longer responsive (encoding). A control group receiving no sedation for MRI underwent similar tasks. Sedation was measured as any verbal response, regardless of correctness. After recovery from sedation, recognition memory was tested, with correct yes/no recognitions matched to sedation responses during encoding (subsequent memory paradigm).
  
  
  
  Of the 48 children who received propofol, 30 could complete all study tasks (6.2 ± 1.6 years, 16 males). Individual responses could be modeled in all 30 children. On average, there was a 50% probability of no verbal response 3.1 min after the start of infusion, with 50% memory loss at 2.7 min. Children receiving propofol recognized 65 ± 16% of the pictures seen, whereas the control group recognized 93 ± 5%.
  
  
  
  Measurement of memory and sedation is possible in verbal children receiving propofol by infusion in a clinical setting. Despite propofol being an amnestic agent, there was little or no amnestic effect of propofol while the child was verbally responsive. It is important for sedation providers to realize that propofol sedation does not always produce amnesia while the child is responsive. CLINICALTRIALS.
  
  
  
  NCT02278003.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States; Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Veselis
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States; Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kelhoffer
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States.
authors.forename: Meghana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.affiliation: Neurocognitive Research Lab, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States; Department of Psychology in Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Root
authors.affiliation: DM-Stat, Inc., Malden, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Fay
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: keira.mason@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Keira P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Mason
mesh_terms: D000647:Amnesia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects*; D015742:Propofol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects; D013060:Speech / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D015742:Propofol
keywords: Memory; Pediatrics; Sedation; Sleep