Our anesthesia experiences outside the operating room in pediatric patients: A retrospective study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The anesthesia procedures outside the operating room have recently emerged as a popular technique widespread around the world for the diagnosis and management of pediatric patients. In this retrospective study, we aimed to evaluate the our anesthesia experiences outside the operating room in pediatric patients. METHODS: The study included a total of 218 pediatric patients aged under 18 years who underwent sedoanalgesia outside the operating room in our clinic over the last two years. Age, gender, ASA score, comorbidities, surgical procedure, duration of anesthesia, anesthetic agents, and complications were recorded for each patient. Quantitative variables were expressed as mean +- standard deviation (SD) and median (minimum-maximum) and categorical variables were expressed as frequencies and percentages. RESULTS: The patients included 108 girls and 110 boys with a mean age 9.17+-5.13 years. Mean duration of anesthesia was 30.74+-28.46 min. Of all the patients, 170 had an ASA score of I and 48 had a score of II. Comorbidities were detected in 46 patients. Most common surgical technique was endoscopy (n=102) and the most common anesthetic agent was the propofol + midazolam combination (n=152). Complications occurred in only 12 patients, with the most common complications including bradycardia (50.0%) followed by desaturation (41.7%). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In our hospital, the anesthesia procedures outside the operating room in pediatric patients are most commonly performed by the Gastroenterology department. We consider that the propofol + midazolam combination, which is frequently administered in our clinic, is a safe option for the anesthesia procedures performed outside the operating room in appropriate pediatric patients.

Keywords

• anesthesia outside the operating room
• endoscopy
• pediatric sedoanalgesia
• propofol
• sedation