Procedural moderate sedation with ketamine in pediatric critical care unit

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of moderate sedation in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) settings according to moderate sedation protocol using ketamine and midazolam and to determine areas for the improvement in our clinical practice.

Settings and design: A retrospective study was conducted in the PICU.

Materials and methods: Retrospective chart review was performed for patients who had received moderate sedation between January and the end of December 2011 and who are eligible to inclusion criteria.

Results: In this study, 246 moderate sedation sessions were included. 5.3% were in infant age, while 94.7% were children (1-14 years). Their gender distributed as 59.8% males and 40.2% females. The majority of them had hematology-oncology disease nature, i.e., 80.89% (n = 199). Lumbar puncture accounted for 65.3% (n = 160) of the producers; the rests were bone marrow aspiration 32.7%, endoscopy 8.2%, and colonoscopy 2.9%. Two doses of ketamine (1-1.5 mg/kg) to achieve moderate sedation during the procedure were given to 44.1% (n = 108) of the patients. One dose of midazolam was given to 77.2% (n = 190), while 1.22% (n = 3) of sessions of moderate sedation was done without any dose of midazolam. Adverse events including apnea, laryngeal spasm, hypotension, and recovery agitation were observed during moderate sedation sessions, and it has been noticed in four sessions, i.e., 1.6%, which were mild to moderate and managed conservatively.

Conclusion: Moderate sedation in the PICU using ketamine and midazolam is generally safe with minimal side effects as moderate sedation sessions were conducted by pediatric intensivist in highly monitored and equipped environment.

Keywords: Ketamine; moderate sedation; pediatric critical care.