Background and rationale {6a}
traumatic, agitation, involuntary movements, amnesia, postoperative vomiting
Magnetic resonance imaging (M.R.I.) is a medical procedure that lasts 30 to 45 min, depending on the number of images to be taken and the need for additional images following contrast medium injection. The patient must remain perfectly still during the entire process to obtain best quality images. As children below the age of 6 years are usually not cooperative, these procedures are systematically performed under sedation for this age category in our institution [The optimal sedation protocol for MRI remains to be determined. The choice of sedation agent is based on the experience of the operator, the available resources, and the associated costs [Preoperative stress, which can be experienced as emotionally traumatic for the child, is associated with agitation on awakening from anesthesia, negative behaviors; and may even extend beyond the perioperative period [At H.U.D.E.R.F., premedication consists of oral midazolam, a benzodiazepine with a short onset of action. It provides sedation, anterograde amnesia, anxiolysis, and a reduction in postoperative vomiting. Although an effective premedication agent [Dexmedetomidine is a highly selective α-2 agonist with sedative, analgesic and anxiolytic properties, while preserving the upper respiratory tract protective reflexes [In 2018, we conducted a retrospective study on the sedation protocol applied in H.U.D.E.R.F. consisting of premedication with oral midazolam and sedation with iterative boluses of propofol. This study concluded that the protocol in place was effective but highlighted a 22% interruption in image acquisition during the procedure, largely due to involuntary movements of the child.