Abstract

LOPEZ MAGALLON, Alejandro José et al. Películas infantiles como alternativa a la sedación en el estudio ecocardiográfico de pacientes pediátricos. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2004, vol.61, n.2, pp.128-133. ISSN 1665-1146.

Introduction. It is often difficult to perform echocardiograms in small children because of lack of cooperation, hence the need for sedation. In order to avoid the possible adverse effects of sedation, the projection of age-appropriate films during the study has been proposed as an alternative. Material and methods. Pediatric non-cooperative patients, ages between 1 and 3 years old with an indication for elective echocardiography were randomly assigned to either 1 of 2 groups: the first one (13 patients) with intranasal midazolam sedation (300 mg/kg), and the other group (15 patients) with video-projection of movies. Cooperation and image quality scores differences were evaluated (Mann-Whitney), as well as the mean study performance time between the 2 groups. Results. Cooperation and image quality scores were similar between the 2 groups. There was a trend toward a shorter mean study performance time in the video group, not reaching statistical significance. Conclusions. Projection of age-appropriate movies during echocardiographic studies in pediatric non-cooperative patients is a good alternative to sedation, avoiding related risks and resource expenditure with similar cooperation and echocardiographic information.

Keywords : Echocardiography; in children; sedation; video; age-appropriate movies.