Comparison of the Effects of Oral Midazolam and Intranasal Dexmedetomidine on Preoperative Sedation and Anesthesia Induction in Children Undergoing Surgeries

Background and Purpose: Premedication with either oral midazolam or intranasal dexmedetomidine prior to surgery remains less than ideal. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the combination of those two drug regimens would have any beneficial effects on the preoperative sedation and the children’s compliance during anesthesia inhalation induction.Experimental Approach: One hundred thirty-eight children aged 2–6 years were randomly allocated into three groups: Group M with oral midazolam 0.5 mg kg−1, Group D with intranasal dexmedetomidine 2 μg kg−1, and Group M + D with intranasal dexmedetomidine 1 μg kg−1 plus oral midazolam 0.5 mg kg−1. The primary outcome was the children’s compliance during inhalation induction with sevoflurane. The secondary outcomes included the preoperative sedative effects, behavior scores, parental separation anxiety scores, and the postoperative incidence of emergence agitation and recovery time.Results: Subjects in Group M + D showed higher satisfaction scores of compliance (p = 0.0049) and mask acceptance (MAS) (p = 0.0049) during anesthesia inhalation induction. Subjects in Group M + D had a significantly shorter time than those in Groups M and D to achieve the desired sedation level (p < 0.001) and remained at a higher sedation score in the holding area and up to the anesthesia induction after drug administration (p < 0.001).Conclusion and Implications: We conclude that pediatric patients premedicated with intranasal dexmedetomidine 1 μg kg−1 plus oral midazolam 0.5 mg kg−1 had significantly improved anesthesia induction compliance, and quicker onset to achieve and maintain a satisfactory level of sedation than those premedicated separately with two drugs. Therefore, the combined premed regimen is a greater choice when we are expecting a higher quality of sedation and a smoother anesthesia induction in children undergoing the surgeries.

Evaluation of the difficulty of peripheral venous cannulation during anesthesia induction in children: Is DIVA score sufficient?

Background: The primary objective of the present study was to determine the rate and the independent predictors of the difficult peripheral intravascular access (PIVA) in the operating room (OR). The secondary objective was to validate the ability of the difficult intravenous access (DIVA) scoring system in the detection of difficult PIVA in the operating room. Methods: In this prospective observational study, patients between 0 and 18 years old who were operated in the pediatric hospital were evaluated. Peripheral intravenous cannulation performed during inhalation induction in 1008 patients were recorded. The following data were collected: demographic characteristics, the presence of a chronic disease, the DIVA score, operating room temperature, the area of PIVA application, the duration of PIVA and the number of PIVA attempts. The independent determinants of the difficult PIVA were determined with multivariate logistic regression. Results: A total of 1008 patients (82% boys) with a median age of 4 (range 0.04–17 years) were included in the study. The median number of PIVA attempts was 1 whereas the median duration for successful PIVA was 15 s (range 4–2100). PIVA was successful at the first attempt in 75.3% of patients. Among patients who required more than two PIVA attempts, the most common adjunctive method was to seek help from another operator (80.8%). In the multivariable logistic regression model, only the presence of chronic disease, being underweight, and DIVA score ⩾4 (OR 6.355, CI 4.57–9.486) remained to be the significant determinants of difficult PIVA. Conclusion: The success rate of anesthesiologist-performed PIVA at the first attempt in the OR was 75.3%. Having a chronic disease, a DIVA score ⩾4 and being underweight appeared as the independent predictors for difficult PIVA.

A Prospective Study of Single Breath Vital Capacity Inhalation Induction with High Concentration of Sevoflurane (Sbvc-Hc) for LMA Insertion in Adults for Short Surgical Cases

Background: Sevoflurane is a new volatile anesthetic agent with rapid induction and recovery. A randomized study was carried to access conditions for LMA insertion using Sevoflurane in 25 ASA I & II patients undergoing short duration surgeries.Subjects and Methods:This prospective study was conducted at Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, SVS Medical College and Hospital, Mahabubnagar, Telangana, India. After obtaining the institutional ethics committee and written informed consent from the patients, 25 subjects of either sex were included in this study. Age of the subjects was 18 to 60 years. Patients received injection Fentanyl 1 – 2mcg/kg prior to induction. All patients were pre-oxygenated for 3 min with 100% oxygen using a fresh gas flow of 81/min. All patients received inhalational induction with 8% Sevoflurane and O2 flow at 8 L/min with single vital capacity breathe technique. Loss of verbal contact was considered as the desired endpoint for induction, which was assessed by the response to calling out the patient’s name. Then the time of loss of eyelash reflex and jaw relaxation was assessed by anesthesiologist. After adequate jaw relaxation, LMA insertion was attempted.Results:The mean loss of verbal contact was 65.40±9.67second, while the mean for time for loss of eyelash reflex and jaw relaxation were found to be 81.20±9.39 seconds and 103.20 ±12.07 seconds respectively. The mean time for LMA insertion was 122.00±15.61 and the mean attempts for successful LMA insertion was 1.12±0.33. LMA insertion was easy in 23 cases as against difficult in 2 cases. In 2 cases transient cough and biting were recorded. LMA insertion was excellent and satisfactory in 88.0 and 12 percent. However, the mean heart rate at 5 minute after induction showed a significant fall at 5 minutes after induction. The mean values of SBP, DBP and MAP did not differ significantly at pre and induction. However, a significant decrease in SBP was noticed at 1, 2 and at 5 minutes.Conclusion:Sevoflurane is an smooth inhalation anesthesia with rapid onset with adequate jaw relaxation for insertion of LMA in Adults for short duration surgeries. Sevoflurane has got good hemodynamic profile with lesser complications owing to choice of inhalation agent for insertion of LMA.

Comparison of the Single Breath Vital Capacity Technique with the Tidal Volume Technique

Introduction: The single breath vital capacity (VC) induction and the tidal volume (TV) breathing induction are currently administered for inhalation of anaesthesia with sevoflurane in children. The aim of this study was to determine whether the vital capacity technique achieves more rapid induction of anaesthesia in children compared to the conventional tidal volume technique. Material and Methods: Sixty ASA physical status 1 or 2 children aged between 5 and 15 years, scheduled to undergo elective urological, orthopaedic or visceral surgery under general anaesthesia using inhalational induction with sevoflurane were recruited and randomized to receive either vital capacity induction or tidal volume induction with 8% sevoflurane at 6L/min of O2 followed by laryngeal mask airway insertion or endotracheal intubation with endotracheal tube. Time required for induction, hemodynamic changes, airway tolerance, side-effects, level of satisfaction using a visual analogue scale (0-100) and Smiley scale (0-10) were documented. Results: Induction time was significantly shorter with the vital capacity induction technique than with the tidal volume breathing induction technique (43.8 ± 13.4 seconds vs 70.8 ± 16.4 seconds; P<0.01). The time to central myosis, haemodynamic changes and respiratory events incidences were similar in both the group. Fewer complications occurred with vital capacity group. More than 94% of the children choose the single Breath Vital Capacity method of induction to the tidal volume technique. Conclusion: For inhalation induction of anaesthesia, the vital capacity induction was faster and produced less complication than that of tidal volume breathing technique.