Comparison of midazolam, ketamine and dexmedetomidine as premedications for radiological imaging in children under 10 years of age

Paediatric patients are a population with a high level of anxiety. The prevention of perioperative stress in a frightened child is important to render the child calm and cooperative for smoother induction. Intranasal premedication is easy and safe, and the drug is rapidly absorbed into the systemic circulation, ensuring early onset of sedation in children and good effectiveness.

Pain, fear, anxiety, and anger are the main emotional components to be dealt by a pedodontist while treating a child. It is generally agreed that most fearful and uncooperative children should be managed with behavioral (nonpharmacologic) management procedures such as tell-show-do, positive reinforcement, controlled expectations, modeling, and suggestion.The primary aim of pharmacological sedation in paediatrics is to transform the patient’s behavior to a level that allows employing behavior management techniques. Intranasal administration of the drugs is well tolerated by children, effective and fast acting as this site is highly vascularized and very permeable for drug administration, ensuring rapid absorption into systemic circulation.

This proposal may suggest that sedative agents such as midazolam, ketamine, dexmedetomidine evaluated in this study in a paediatric population can be used safely and effectively in uncooperative pediatric patients for producing conscious sedation.