Etomidate or Pentobarbital for Pediatric CT Scan Sedation?

Etomidate was safe and effective and produced a shorter duration of sedation than pentobarbital in healthy children.

For many children undergoing computed tomography (CT) scanning, procedural sedation is needed to obtain reliable images and avoid repeat radiation exposure. Using data from the Pediatric Sedation Research Consortium database (a collaboration of 26 institutions), researchers compared the efficacy, duration of sedation, and safety of etomidate and pentobarbital in a retrospectively identified cohort of children aged 6 months to 7 years who were of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I or II and who underwent sedation for diagnostic CT scanning. Most patients were fasted and scheduled for CT. The primary outcome measure was the adequacy of sedation to complete the CT scan.

A total of 446 children received intravenous etomidate (me…

Reviewing Author

Jill M. Baren, MD, MBE, FACEP, FAAP