Anaesthesia for Paediatric Cardiac MRI

General anaesthesia (GA) for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) is challenging for the anaesthesiologist.

A retrospective review of anaesthesia for cardiac MRI between January 2002 and December 2005 was undertaken.

28 children with cardiac disease were subjected to general anaesthesia for cardiac MRI, of which four patients were in ASA Grade I, five in Grade II, seventeen in Grade III and two in Grade IV. Two patients had undergone previous cardiac surgery. All the cases were managed as inpatients, of which 18 had cyanotic cardiac defects (SpO2 between 65 and 85%). On two occasions scans were interrupted because of low oxygen saturation or haemodynamic instability during GA. No patient was admitted to the hospital for complications related to general anaesthesia though all were kept under observation for two hours before being shifted to ward. Five patients had a brief episode of hypotension/desaturation during the MRI and responded quickly to interventions.

General anaesthesia for cardiac MRI can be administered safely in children with CHD.