Sedation for cardiac catheterization: A controlled study

In a double-blind study we compared the effectiveness of a meperidine-promethazine-chlorpromazine combination (drug A) and a fentanyl citrate-droperidol combination (drug B) as sedatives for cardiac catheterization and angiography. The doses for drug A were meperidine, 1.84 mg/kg; promethazine, 0.46 mg/kg; and chlorpromazine, 0.46 mg/kg; for drug B they were fentanyl citrate, 1.25μg/kg; and droperidol, 62.5μg/kg. Drug A or B was assigned at random to each of 94 patients aged 3 to 34 years admitted for cardiac catheterization and was given intramuscularly 30 minutes before catheterization. Each patient who required additional sedation was given intravenously (IV) one fourth of the original dose of the same medication used for initial sedation. If still further sedation was required, diazepam, 1 to 2 mg IV, was administered. The effectiveness of sedation or need for additional medication in the group who received drug A were not significantly different from those in the group who received drug B: supplemental sedation was required in 8 of 47 (17%) with drug A and 8 of 47 (17%) with drug B. No significant differences between the two groups were noted for the mean values of heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen consumption, cardiac index, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, arterial oxygen saturation, pH,Po2, andPco2 measured during catheterization. No side effects were observed in either group, and all patients had a steady, uneventful recovery.