Abstract
Objective
To investigate the effect of intranasal ketamine versus alfentanil in addition to oral midazolam for the prevention of emergence agitation in children.
Methods
Children undergoing urological surgery with sevoflurane anaesthesia received oral midazolam 40 min before induction and were then randomly assigned to receive 2 mg/kg ketamine, 10 µg/kg alfentanil or 1 ml isotonic saline intranasally. Parental separation status and mask acceptance were assessed preoperatively. Emergence agitation was evaluated using a paediatric anaesthesia emergence delirium (PAED) score.
Results
Data from 78 children were evaluated in the study. There were no significant differences between the groups in demographic characteristics, recovery times or parental separation scores. Mask acceptance was significantly better in the ketamine group than in the saline group. The mean PAED score in the ketamine group was significantly better than in the other two groups, but was similar in the saline and alfentanil groups. The incidence of emergence agitation was 3.8%, 36.0% and 40.7% in the ketamine, alfentanil and saline groups, respectively.
Conclusions
The addition of intranasal ketamine to oral midazolam significantly improved the quality of induction and reduced sevoflurane-induced emergence agitation, in children undergoing urological surgery.
Introduction
Anaesthesia induction with sevoflurane is frequently used in children. Although sevoflurane is a popular, well-accepted and easily manageable anaesthetic for the induction and maintenance of anaesthesia (in addition to having a good safety profile), recovery may be complicated by emergence agitation in paediatric patients, even in the absence of surgery. 1 Cravero et al. 1 reported that, depending on whether a high or low threshold was used to define agitation, 33% or 80%, respectively, of patients receiving sevoflurane anaesthesia developed emergence delirium.
Several studies have evaluated the ability of premedication to decrease the incidence of emergence agitation. Midazolam is the most frequently used premedication drug in paediatric patients;2–4 however, there are ongoing debates concerning its efficacy in preventing emergence agitation. 5 Ketamine and alfentanil are other premedication drugs that are used in paediatric patients.6–8 Combining different premedication drugs has offered promising results in terms of improved sedation scores and anxiolysis.9,10
The present study evaluated the effects on emergence agitation of adding intranasal ketamine or intranasal alfentanil to oral midazolam as premedication in children undergoing urological surgery.
Patients and methods
Patients
Children aged between 1 and 8 years undergoing general anaesthesia with sevoflurane for urological surgical procedures at Yeditepe University Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, between February and August 2012, who were American Society of Anesthesiologist status I–II, were enrolled in the study. Exclusion criteria included cardiac, pulmonary, hepatic or renal disease, and psychological or emotional disorders.
Written informed parental consent was obtained for all study participants. The study was registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov protocol registration system (NCT02022488) and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Yeditepe University Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
Premedication and anaesthesia
All patients received oral midazolam 0.5 mg/kg as preanaesthetic medication ∼40 min before the induction of anaesthesia. Children were randomly assigned to one of three groups using a computer-generated random number table by an anaesthesiologist who did not participate in the study. Children in the ketamine group (group MK) received 2 mg/kg ketamine intranasally, those in the alfentanil group (group MA) received 10 µg/kg alfentanil intranasally and those in the saline group (group MS) received 1 ml isotonic saline intranasally, 8–10 min before the induction of anaesthesia. The intranasal drugs were given while patients were in the supine position; if the volume of drug required exceeded 1 ml, the dose was divided between both nostrils. Each patient’s parents, the anaesthesiologists (with the exception of S.B.), the statistician and all observers were blinded to the study groups.
Heart rate, noninvasive blood pressure and oxygen saturation on pulse oximetry were routinely monitored and recorded before anaesthesia induction and every 5 min during surgery. Anaesthesia was induced with 7% sevoflurane and 60% nitrous oxide in oxygen, then maintained with 0.75 minimum alveolar concentration of sevoflurane in 60% nitrous oxide in oxygen. After anaesthesia induction and intravenous cannulation, a laryngeal mask airway was inserted. Before the first surgical incision, caudal block was performed using 0.25% bupivacaine at a dose of 0.8 ml/kg. Adequacy of caudal block was assessed with the absence of an increase in heart rate with the skin incision; the block was deemed inadequate if the heart rate increased > 20% within 60 s of the incision. At the end of surgery, inhaled agents were discontinued and the oxygen concentration was increased to 100%.
Patient evaluation
For each patient, age, weight, duration of surgery and anaesthesia, and spontaneous eye opening time (emergence duration) were recorded.
Parental separation status was measured in the preoperative period using a four-point scale (1, asleep; 2, good separation, awake, calm; 3, awake, anxious, can be easily reassured; 4, crying, cannot be reassured). 11 Similarly, a four-point scale was also used to assess the ease of mask acceptance (1, excellent – asleep or awake, calm, co-operative, accepting mask; 2, slight fear but can be easily reassured; 3, moderate fear, reassured with difficulty; 4, crying, needs restraint). 11
Emergence agitation was measured using a paediatric anaesthesia emergence delirium (PAED) score, 12 in which five attributes (the child makes eye contact with the caregiver; the child’s actions are purposeful; the child is aware of the surroundings; the child is restless; the child is inconsolable) are scored between 0 and 4. Eye contact, purposeful actions and awareness of surroundings were scored as: 0, extremely; 1, very much; 2, quite a bit; 3, just a little; 4, not at all. Restlessness and inconsolability were scored as: 0, not at all; 1, just a little; 2, quite a bit; 3, very much; 4, extremely. The maximum score overall is 20. The degree of agitation was recorded at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 120 min after entering the postanaesthesia care unit, and the highest recorded values during the first 30 min and the following 90 min were used for evaluation. Patients with a PAED score > 12 at any time during the first 120 min postoperatively were considered to be agitated 13 and were treated with 1 µg/kg intravenous fentanyl.
At the same time points as the PAED score was recorded, pain was assessed using the Modified Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (Modified CHEOPS), 14 which is based on scores for cry, facial expression, verbal expression and movement. Each child with a pain score ≥ 4 was treated with 1 µg/kg intravenous fentanyl in the postanaesthesia care unit.
The modified Aldrete score 15 was measured every 5 min to determine readiness for discharge from the postanaesthesia care unit, with a score of ≥ 9 being required for discharge.
After discharge from the postanaesthesia care unit, children with a Modified CHEOPS score ≥ 4 or higher received oral paracetamol at a dose of 15 mg/kg.
Adverse events s(including laryngospasm, bronchospasm and postoperative respiratory depression, hypoxaemia, and nausea or vomiting) were noted. In addition, the time to discharge from hospital was recorded for each patient.
Statistical analyses
On the basis of reference data, 5 G*Power 3.1.5 (http://www.gpower.hhu.de/en.html) was used to calculate that a sample size of 28 would be needed in each group to detect a 25% difference in PAED scores with a significance level of 0.05 and a power of 80% (one-sided test). Variables were analysed using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test to determine whether or not they were normally distributed.
Data for continuous variables were presented as mean ± SD. Data for categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages. χ2-test was used to compare categorical variables in the different groups. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare normally distributed variables between groups. The Levene test was used to assess the homogeneity of the variances. When overall significance was observed, pairwise post-hoc tests were performed using Tukey’s test. The Kruskall–Wallis test was used to compare non-normally distributed variables between the groups. The Mann–Whitney U-test was performed to test the significance of pairwise differences using the Bonferroni correction to adjust for multiple comparisons. A P-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Apart from the calculation of sample size, all statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS® Statistics software, version 21 (IBM, Somers, NY, USA).
Results
A total of 84 children were enrolled in the study; six children were excluded due to deviation from the protocol (Figure 1), leaving 78 patients for evaluation. Of these, 26 were in group MK, 25 were in group MA and 27 were in group MS. There were no significant differences in age, weight, duration of surgery and anaesthesia or emergence time between the three groups (Table 1).
Flow chart of patients enrolled in a study investigating intranasal ketamine versus alfentanil, in addition to oral midazolam, for the prevention of emergence agitation in children. Demographic and operative data for children receiving premedication with midazolam and saline (group MS), midazolam and alfentanil (group MA) or midazolam and ketamine (group MK). Data presented as mean ± SD. No statistically significant between-group differences; (P ≥ 0.05; one-way analysis of variance).
Parental separation score, mask acceptance score and paediatric anaesthesia emergence delirium (PAED) scores in children undergoing urological surgery and receiving premedication with midazolam and saline (group MS), midazolam and alfentanil (group MA) or midazolam and ketamine (group MK).
Data presented as mean ± SD.
P < 0.001 versus group MS and
P < 0.001 versus groups MA and MS; Kruskall–Wallis test.
Incidence of nausea and vomiting, use of fentanyl rescue medication during the postoperative period and the time to discharge from hospital in children undergoing urological surgery and receiving premedication with midazolam and saline (group MS), midazolam and alfentanil (group MA) or midazolam and ketamine (group MK).
Data presented as n (%) of patients or mean ± SD.
P = 0.004 versus groups MS and MA; χ2-test.
No adverse events such as laryngospasm, bronchospasm and postoperative respiratory depression or hypoxaemia were noted during the study. The incidences of nausea or vomiting in groups MA and MK were higher than in group MS, but these differences were not statistically significant (Table 3). The times to hospital discharge were similar for all three groups (Table 3).
Modified CHEOPS pain scores were < 4 throughout the study in all patients, therefore additional fentanyl use for pain relief was not required.
Discussion
In the present study, addition of intranasal ketamine to oral midazolam as a premedication significantly improved the quality of anaesthetic induction and reduced sevoflurane-induced emergence agitation, without delaying emergence or affecting the time to discharge from hospital.
A number of factors affect emergence agitation, including: preoperative anxiety; 16 pain; 17 type of anaesthesia used.1,18 Although emergence agitation in children after sevoflurane anaesthesia can occur in those who are not in pain, 1 postoperative pain is a well-known contributing factor. 17 In the present study, caudal analgesia ensured that all participants were pain free.
The incidence of sevoflurane-induced emergence agitation has been reported to be 33–80%, with the wide range in incidence being related to the definitions used. 1 A number of scales have been devised to evaluate emergence agitation in children. The PAED scale has been shown to be reliable and valid. 12 In the present study, patients were considered to be agitated if the PAED score was > 12 at any time during the postoperative period; using this definition, the incidence of agitation was 3.8% in group MK, 36.0% in group MA and 40.7% in group MS.
Different strategies have been recommended to decrease the incidence of emergence agitation. The level of preoperative anxiety has been shown to be related to emergence delirium and postoperative behavioural changes.16,19 Chorney and Kain 20 demonstrated that 42% of children displayed distress during anaesthesia induction. Premedication is widely used in paediatric patients in order to provide sedation, reduce preoperative anxiety and improve the quality of induction. Lapin et al. 21 observed that children anaesthetized with sevoflurane without prior premedication had a 67% incidence of postoperative agitation. McMillan et al. 22 demonstrated that 0.5 mg/kg midazolam orally was effective premedication that offered a good safety profile. In the present study, all three groups were given 0.5 mg/kg midazolam orally. Midazolam has been shown to provide amnesia, reduce anxiety and decrease the incidence of postoperative behavioural changes. 23 However, there is an ongoing debate concerning its efficacy; some studies have shown that it does not prevent emergence agitation.24,25 The use of a single drug may not be sufficient for the prevention of emergence agitation; 26 in such cases, treatment with additional analgesics or sedatives may be required. The serum concentration of oral midazolam peaks at 53 min after oral ingestion. 27 Considering the length of the operation and the time taken for patient transfer, the sedation period of midazolam may not cover the postoperative period and therefore may not prevent emergence agitation.
Several studies have evaluated the effects on emergence agitation of combining midazolam with other sedative drugs.10,22,28 Nasal administration of premedication drugs may be an alternative route to intravenous, subcutaneous, oral or rectal administration in paediatric patients and may offer advantages such as ease of administration and rapid onset.6,29 In the present study, the incidence of emergence agitation following premedication with midazolam alone was higher than when midazolam was combined with intranasal ketamine.
Ketamine is an N-methyl-
Intranasal administration of fentanyl during sevoflurane anaesthesia has been reported to be associated with decreased agitation, without an increase in the total hospital stay. 32 Alfentanil, a rapid- and short-acting synthetic analogue of fentanyl, appears to offer some clinically significant advantages over fentanyl during outpatient anaesthesia. 33 The use of alfentanil is associated with fewer intraoperative side effects, such as respiratory depression and muscular rigidity, and a more rapid recovery time compared with fentanyl. 33 The maximal plasma concentration with intranasal alfentanil is reached within 9 min and the elimination half-life is short. 34 The short half-life of nasal alfentanil may explain why it did not prevent emergence agitation in the present study. However, the terminal half-life of nasal alfentanil (59.4 min) is similar to that of intravenous alfentanil (60 min). 34 The administration of 10 µg/kg alfentanil intravenously after induction of anaesthesia in children undergoing adenotonsillectomy reduced the incidence of emergence agitation without delaying the recovery time. 35 Furthermore, the combination of midazolam and alfentanil has been reported to significantly decrease the expected median effective dose required for hypnosis of both drugs by 46%. 36 In contrast, despite using a dose of 10 µg/kg, alfentanil did not decrease emergence agitation in the present study; this is probably due to the reduced bioavailability (64.9%) of alfentanil when given via the nasal route. 34
In the present study, nausea or vomiting were more common in groups MA and MK than in group MS, but these differences were not statistically significant. However, both alfentanil and ketamine have the potential to cause nausea and vomiting, which may explain the numerically higher incidence with the combination therapies, compared with midazolam alone.
The present study has a number of limitations. During the first 30 min of anaesthesia emergence only three consecutive PAED measurements were made, whereas other studies have performed six measurements within this time period. In the present study children were continuously monitored in the postanaesthesia care unit; the PAED score was measured three times and the highest value was used for statistical evaluation.
Another limitation is the lack of knowledge about changes in the median effective doses of the drugs employed when used in combination to control emergence agitation.
In conclusion, intranasal ketamine, in addition to oral midazolam premedication, significantly reduced sevoflurane-induced emergence agitation without delaying emergence or affecting the time to hospital discharge, in children undergoing urosurgical procedures.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
