Cardiovascular magnetic resonance is successfully feasible in many patients aged 3 to 8years without general anesthesia or sedation.

OBJECTIVES: Patients younger than 8 years are usually examined by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) under general anesthesia (GA) or sedation without intubation. Therefore, we sought to study the feasibility of CMR in patients aged 3 to 8years without GA or sedation.

PATIENTS: Data sets of 71 consecutive patients aged 3 to 8years were studied retrospectively.

DESIGN: The total cohort was divided into 2 groups: a no-GA or sedation without intubation group (no-GA or sedation) and a GA or sedation without intubation group (GA or sedation).

MEASUREMENTS: The patients' age, scan durations for each group, successfully answered clinical question, and number of sequences per study were compared between both groups.

MAIN RESULTS: Scan duration in the no-GA or sedation group (n=44) was 35± 20minutes, and that in the GA or sedation group (n=27) was 60± 31minutes (P<.001). The percentage of successful reports was 95% (42/44) in the no-GA or sedation group and 89% (24 of 27) in the GA or sedation group (P=.29).

CONCLUSION: CMR in patients aged 3 to 8years is usually successfully feasible without GA or sedation.