Skip Navigation



BJA Advance Access published online on June 17, 2006
British Journal of Anaesthesia, doi:10.1093/bja/ael144
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
97/2/220    most recent
ael144v1
Right arrow E-Letters: Submit a response to the article
Right arrow E-letters: View responses
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sury, M. R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Fairweather, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sury, M. R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Fairweather, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2006. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Accepted April 20, 2006

Clinical Investigation

The effect of melatonin on sedation of children undergoing magnetic resonance imaging

M. R. J. Sury 1 * and K. Fairweather 2

1 Department of Anaesthesia, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London WC1N 3JH, UK; Portex Anaesthesia, Intensive Therapy and Respiratory Medicine Unit, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK
2 Department of Radiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London WC1N 3JH, UK; Portex Anaesthesia, Intensive Therapy and Respiratory Medicine Unit, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
M. R. J. Sury, E-mail: surym{at}gosh.nhs.uk


  Abstract

Background. Melatonin may induce a natural sleepiness and improve predictability of sedation drugs. We have investigated its clinical value in children sedated for magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods. In a stratified randomized double-blind study, 98 children received either melatonin or placebo 10 min before they were sedated with a standard oral regimen. Children >5 and <15 kg received chloral hydrate and those ≥15 and <40 kg had a combination of temazepam with droperidol (T&D). The doses of melatonin were 3 and 6 mg, respectively. One observer recorded the time taken to reach criteria for deep sedation, sedation failure and other sedation-related events.

Results. In the chloral hydrate group (n=50) 50% were deeply sedated by 31 min after melatonin and 40 min after placebo (P=0.57). There were zero and 1 failures, respectively. The geometric mean time taken to reach deep sedation was 39 min in both subgroups. In the T&D group (n=48) 50% were deeply sedated by 70 min in both subgroups (two failures in each); geometric mean times were 68 and 71 min, respectively (P=0.58). Children closed their eyes slightly earlier after melatonin (respective geometric means 42 vs 48, P=0.17), and took slightly longer to achieve discharge criteria (146 vs 135, P=0.47).

Conclusion. In these doses and clinical conditions, melatonin did not contribute to sedation of children.

Keywords: brain, magnetic resonance imaging; hormones, melatonin; paediatrics; sedation, deep sedation.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br J AnaesthHome page
O. Dearlove and J.P. Corcoran
Sedation of children undergoing magnetic resonance imaging
Br. J. Anaesth., April 1, 2007; 98(4): 548 - 549.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br J AnaesthHome page
J. G. Allen and M. R. J. Sury
Sedation of children undergoing magnetic resonance imaging.
Br. J. Anaesth., December 1, 2006; 97(6): 898 - 899.
[Full Text] [PDF]

E-letters:

Read all E-letters

Melatonin does not override natural alerting mechanisms...
James M. Howard
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 21 Jun 2006 [Full text]
Paediatric Magnetic Resonance Imaging Under Sedation
Jonathan G Allen
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 22 Aug 2006 [Full text]
Dr Sury's response to the points raised by Dr Allen.
Mike Sury
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 11 Sep 2006 [Full text]
Correspondance
Pooja Ajit Warty
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 4 Oct 2006 [Full text]
Magnetic Resonance Imaging and sedation of children
Antony STEPHEN LAURENCE
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 15 Dec 2006 [Full text]
Further results of sedation for MRI scanning of children
Oliver R Dearlove, et al.
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 4 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.