Irish medical journal
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Irish medical journal · Mar 2008
Comparative StudySedation with oral chloral hydrate in children undergoing MRI scanning.
In the absence of a general anaesthetic facility for MRI scanning in children, we introduced a sedation protocol using chloral hydrate. Our aim was to evaluate the success and safety of our protocol. This was a retrospective study enrolling 36 children over a 7 month period. ⋯ For children greater than 5 years of age the success rate was 70%. 92% of developmentally normal children and 83% of developmentally delayed children were successfully sedated. Success rates were poorer in children older than 5 years and in those with developmental delay. Our findings suggest that this protocol could be safely used in units where general anaesthetic facilities are unavailable for MRI and for other radiological investigations.
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Care of the dying can be a complex and challenging area of healthcare. For some patients as they enter the terminal phase of their illness and start to die, new symptoms can emerge, whilst other pre-existing symptoms become more troublesome. ⋯ Within the specialty of palliative medicine such symptoms are known as refractory symptoms and there is the practice of using sedation therapy for the relief of such symptoms. This article will review the use of sedation to relieve refractory symptoms in the terminally ill.