REVIEW   Free access

Minerva Anestesiologica 2019 October;85(10):1105-17

DOI: 10.23736/S0375-9393.19.13547-X

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

The pearls of pediatric sedation: polish the old and embrace the new

Keira P. MASON ¹ ✉, Neena SETH ²

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; ² Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London, UK

Over the past decade, as the complexity and breadth of pediatric procedures increases, the actual choices of approved sedatives have remained relatively stagnant. Since the introduction of midazolam, there has not been a sedative approved for pediatric labelling until December 2018. This December, the European approval of ADV6209 (Ozalin) for pediatric usage marked the newest addition to the pediatric sedative armamentarium in over a decade. This review is timely and significant because it will provide a balanced evaluation of the most common sedatives in use today, the most recent sedative to be approved and, most importantly, a critical look at the literature supporting the latest approaches to the most commonly performed procedures.

KEY WORDS: Drug-related side effects and adverse reactions; Child; Hypnotics and sedatives