Abstract
The importance of premedication in paediatric anaesthesia is well known, and induction is associated with a risk of hypoxaemia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure changes of oxygen saturation during induction in children given narcotics. Arterial oxygen saturation was measured by a pulse oximeter during induction of anaesthesia in children aged 1-15 years. W e gave four kind of premedication (1. nil, 2. narcotics, 3. sedative, 4. narcotics and sedative) to children undergoing selective surgery. Age classification was as follows : 1, 1-5 years ; 2, 6-10 years ; 3, 11-15 years. Children were induced with thiopenton and muscle relaxant during air breathing. Among the children in the narcotics group and the narcotics and sedative group, 70% were sufficiently satisfied (cooperative or sleeping) . Immediately before induction, SpO2was 95.87±1.16% (mean±SEM) in the sleeping group, 97.51±0.87% in the cooperative group, and 96.69±1.00% in the screaming group. The lowest SpO2in the sleeping group was 93% and none were transferred to hypoxaemia (SpO2<90%) . Of the children in the screaming group, 70% showed hypoxaemia, which was signi-ficantly different from the other groups (p<0.01) . Few chidren in the cooperative and sleeping groups were hypoxaemic. In the screaming group, the desaturation time tended to be very short (16 sec.), the time to recover from hypoxaemia was much longer than that of the other groups. Premedication in paediatric anaesthesia is very important, partly because it can keep children in good psychological condition and avoid psychological trauma, and partly because it can help to avoid hypoxaemia. The doses of narcotics given to the children in our study were adequate but safe considering pulse oximetry. W e recommend that children should be given enough narcotic premedication to avoid hypoxaemia during induction.
