Sedation for pediatric patients undergoing CT and MRI.

Adequate sedation remains one of the most important parts of performing high quality cross-sectional imaging in children. This is a noncomparative retrospective analysis of existing sedation protocols used in 1,158 children between the ages of 1 day and 18 years, checking for safety and efficacy. The most commonly used drugs were chloral hydrate (60-120 mg/kg) by mouth for infants less than 18 months and intravenous Nembutal (2-6 mg/kg) for older children. Sedation was successful in 97% of patients.