Total intravenous anesthesia in children

Abstract

Total venous anesthesia (AVT) has shown a great advance in the last two decades in both adults and children, after the development of anesthetics with pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties that allow its use in continuous infusion. Despite the rapid evolution of AVT and target controlled anesthesia for maintenance of general anesthesia in adults, its practice in the pediatric population was initially limited. The advantages of AVT are rapid recovery time, significant reduction of nausea and vomiting, decreased incidence of postoperative delirium, and reduced environmental pollution. Studies have shown that this technique can be used with relative safety in the pediatric population, however, the devices available for continuous infusion and pharmacokinetic models suitable for the pediatric population are still incipient. The development of hardware and software suitable for all age groups, respecting the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic particularities of each of them, still requires more studies.