Sevoflurane Sedation Protocol in Children with Cerebral Palsy Undergoing BotulinumToxin-A Injections - DATABASE

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to describe our experience with a protocol based on sevoflurane sedation to control pain and agitation during botulinum toxin-A (BoNT-A) infiltration in children with cerebral palsy (CP), especially in terms of safety and efficacy. MATERIAL AND METHODS We conducted a retrospective observational study of patients diagnosed with CP who underwent BoNT-A infiltration with sevoflurane sedation from November 2012 to December 2019. Demographic, clinical and functional characteristics, the effectiveness of sedation, adverse events (AE) and professional satisfaction were reviewed. RESULTS A total of 387 sedations were successfully performed in 74 patients. Effective sedation was achieved in 100% of procedures, facilitating collaboration during infiltration and improving professional satisfaction. AE were reported in 6.02% of the procedures, the most frequent being nausea and vomiting (3.88%) and transient hypoxemia (2.07%). There were no severe AE. No association was found between the incidence of AE and the clinical and functional variables or risk before anaesthesia. CONCLUSION Sevoflurane sedation shows promising results in terms of safety and effectiveness for the management of agitation and pain during BoNT-A infiltration in our daily clinical practice. In addition, it can facilitate infiltration, allowing examination under sedation and multilevel infiltration with good tolerance.