Summary
Experience with methitural sodium in 225 children ranging from one day to sixteen years of age indicates that this agent may be safely administered to all age groups and for all procedures in which other barbiturates are not contraindicated.
The annoyances of induction are the same as those reported for adults. coughing, sneezing, hiccoughing, retching, and pain at the site of injection. The prolonged induction period was a disadvantage in some children who were apprehensive and restless.
Our experience lends clinical support to the contention that methitural has a shorter duration of action than does thiopental. This property offers some advantage to those patients who may become hypothermic during operation, either deliberately or incidentally. It is of no advantage in normothermic cases lasting longer than thirty minutes, but is of value in shorter proqedures, particularly for out-patients.
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From the Department of Anaesthesia, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
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Smith, C. Methitural sodium for the induction of paediatric anaesthesia. Can. Anaes. Soc. J. 4, 378–383 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03021124
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03021124