Induction techniques for pediatric patients with congenital heart disease undergoing noncardiac procedures are influenced by cardiac functional status and residual lesion burden.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Appropriate agent selection in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) undergoing cardiac surgery and catheterization have been extensively reviewed in the literature. To date, there has not been an analysis of induction drug choices made in a large group of CHD patients undergoing non-cardiac procedures and intraoperative events. The primary objective was to characterize induction agent selection in CHD patients undergoing non-cardiac procedures and examine its association with intraoperative events.

DESIGN

Retrospective chart review analysis.

SETTING

A single center study.

PATIENTS

Children with CHD who underwent non-cardiac procedures.

INTERVENTION/MEASUREMENT: Using the electronic preoperative anesthesia evaluation form we identified 2966 cases performed under general anesthesia. We examined the association between patient characteristics (ASA PS and CHD severity) and induction drugs using multinominal logistic regression test. We also examined the association of induction drugs with intraoperative adverse events using Fisher exact test.

MAIN RESULTS

Inhalational and intravenous inductions were conducted in 35.7% and 64.3% of general anesthesia cases, respectively. Sevoflurane was the main inhalation induction drug. Propofol was used as the induction agent in 54.3% of cases, while etomidate, midazolam/fentanyl, and ketamine were used as the induction agent in 18.3% 16.6%, and 10.1% of cases, respectively. ASA PS and CHD severity predicted induction drugs better than single ventricle status or ventricular function. Intraoperative inotrope use was seen more frequently in cases induced by ketamine, etomidate or opioids over sevoflurane or propofol.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with higher ASA classes and CHD of more severity tend to be induced more with etomidate, ketamine or opioids over sevoflurane or propofol. Use of etomidate, ketamine or opioids was more associated with inotrope use, but there was not significant difference in respiratory events among different induction agents. Causative association needs to be examined in the future.