Comparison of Sedation by Esketamine and Sevoflurane

Overview

Pediatric diseases，including congenital cataract,，corneal injury，corneal ulcer, usually need suture removal and ophthalmic examination after Surgery for several days. Unfortunately, it remains a great challenge to achieve successful sedation due to children's noncooperation. Sevoflurane is one of the most often used anesthesia agents to provide deep sedation. Although sevoflurane has been used for pediatric anesthesia with successful keep spontaneous breathing without intubation, it should be noted that sevoflurane often results in air pollution under the open airway background and postoperative agitation. Esketamine is the S (+) isomer of ketamine, which produces a dissociated state with minimal risk of airway compromise or apnea. It has enhanced analgesic potency and faster elimination compared to ketamine. However, it may also cause delirium during the recovery time. Based on these experiences on ketamine, we compared the effectiveness of esketamine and sevoflurane for short ophthalmological procedure in pediatric patients.

Pediatric diseases，including congenital cataract,，corneal injury，corneal ulcer, usually need suture removal and ophthalmic examination after Surgery for several days. Unfortunately, it remains a great challenge to achieve successful sedation to avoid body movement and keep perfect eye position due to children's noncooperation. Thus, appropriate sedative agents therefore need to be administrated to perform this minor surgery. Sevoflurane is used frequently inhalational anaesthetic agent to provide pediatric anaesthesia because of the nonirritant nature. It has been used for successful keeping spontaneous breathing without tracheal intubation. It should be noted that sevoflurane often results in air pollution under the open airway background and emergence agitation. High concentrations of sevoflurane may causes respiratory depression due to the decrease in tidal volume during spontaneous ventilation. Ketamine is widely used for procedural sedation, which produces a dissociated state with minimal risk of airway compromise or apnea. Esketamine is the S (+) isomer of ketamine, It has enhanced analgesic potency and faster elimination compared to ketamine. However, it may also cause agitation during the recovery time. Based on these experiences on ketamine, we compared the effectiveness of esketamine and sevoflurane for short ophthalmological procedure in pediatric patients.