Sedation and anesthesia for magnetic resonance imaging in pediatric patients: is dexmedetomidine the answer?

We reviewed the current state of knowledge regarding pediatric sedation mainly for nonpainful procedures, such as MRI studies. The increasing number of requests for pediatric sedation has triggered intense research for finding various solutions that would enable the safe administration of sedation by nonanesthesiologist physicians, supervised trained nursing personnel (CRNAs and/or RNs), or sedation teams combining different provider types. We also reviewed the current data on the use of dexmedetomidine in children, as a sedative agent in the MRI suite. Dexmedetomidine is an excellent sedative, has analgesic properties, and appears to be clinically safe from a respiratory point of view even at high doses, although instances of bradycardia and hypotension have been reported. Dexmedetomidine appears to be a promising option for sedation in the pediatric population in the MRI setting.