Effects of halothane on children's electroretinograms.

BACKGROUND

At times, anesthesia is necessary to test children's electroretinographic (ERG) responses. Halothane, an anesthetic commonly used for pediatric patients, affects some aspects of ERG responses, but it is unknown if halothane affects ERG parameters evaluated by contemporary clinical protocols.

METHODS

Scotopic and photopic ERG responses were recorded from children when awake and then under halothane.

RESULTS

Halothane has no effect on scotopic b-wave stimulus/response parameters, including amplitude, sensitivity, and implicit time. Scotopic a-wave amplitudes, implicit times, model parameters, and ratio of a- to b-wave amplitudes are unaffected by halothane. The amplitudes and implicit times of photopic responses to red flashes and 30 Hz flickering white light are not altered by halothane. Halothane causes no significant change in amplitudes and implicit times of the oscillatory potential wavelets.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that significant departures of ERG responses (studied with the protocol described herein) from a laboratory's normal values cannot be attributed to halothane.