How Can General Anesthesia Needs Be Reduced?

By using the multi-faceted Children Centered Care (CCC) concept, the use of general anesthesia for MRI in children aged 4 to 6 years old could be reduced to 5% without affecting image quality, according to a study published in the European Journal of Radiology.

Researchers from Denmark performed a prospective study to evaluate the need for general anesthesia for children aged 4 to 6 years who had to undergo MRI, using CCC compared to a standard setup. Eighty-one children participated in the study, 41 in the study group and 40 in the control group. The researchers developed and tested the CCC for MRI in children in this age. The CCC included:

• An interactive app
• A trained pediatric team
• A children’s lounge with a toy-scanner
• A child-friendly multimedia environment in the MRI room

The researchers evaluated the use of general anesthesia, assessed image quality, and performed a cost-benefit analysis.

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The children’s mean age was 5.8 years and 48 (59%) were males. Neuro imaging accounted for 58 (72%) and orthopedic imaging 22 (27%). With the CCC setup 39/41 (95%) completed a diagnostic MRI without GA compared to 17/40 (43%) in the control group. Image quality was not different between the groups. The setup proved cost-effective with a payback time of two years in a Danish setting with 250 eligible patients per year.

The researchers concluded that by using the multi-faceted concept CCC, the use of GA for MRI in children aged 4 to 6 was markedly reduced to 5%, image quality was maintained, and the setup was cost-effective.