Anesthesia practices during magnetic resonance imaging in pediatric patients

Aims: The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is becoming increasingly common for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in pediatric cases. Among children who are too young to cooperate with the procedure or in those with anxiety, anesthesia may be required to minimize excessive motion and optimize image quality. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and associated complications of different anesthesia techniques used during MRI in pediatric patients at our hospital. Methods: Anesthesia follow-up forms and computer records of pediatric patients who had undergone MRI under anesthesia between January 2021 and January 2023 in a training and research hospital in Ankara were retrospectively reviewed. The included patients were categorized into four groups according to their anesthesia maintenance protocols to compare their efficacy and associated complications. Results: Of the 358 included patients, only 2% underwent MRI under general anesthesia with a laryngeal mask airway (LMA), whereas the rest underwent MRI under sedation. In our hospital, the most commonly used technique for MRI under anesthesia in pediatric patients involved sevoflurane inhalation with a simple facemask and airway (54.5%), and the lowest complication rate (0.8%) was observed in those who underwent only anesthesia induction without the administration of an agent for the maintenance of anesthesia. Conclusion: Daily anesthesia is generally considered the most effective and comfortable method for sedation during MRI. The results of this study suggest that anesthesia involving sevoflurane inhalation with a simple face mask applied to preserve spontaneous breathing is an effective and safe method for pediatric patients undergoing MRI.