Co-operation with pre-operative cardiovascular monitoring amongst children for chair dental general anaesthesia.

INTRODUCTION: The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) guidelines Recommendations for standards of monitoring during anaesthesia and recovery state that cardiovascular monitoring for induction of general anaesthesia should include pulse oximetry and non-invasive blood pressure measurement, but recognise that young patients may not co-operate sufficiently to allow this. The aim of this study was to look at levels of compliance possible for pulse oximetry and non-invasive blood pressure measurement, in a population known to be unco-operative with therapeutic interventions.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of 500 records of patients attending for chair dental general anaesthesia was carried out. It was recorded whether pre-operatively pulse oximetry and non-invasive blood pressure measurement had been allowed in addition to the child's age and sex.

RESULTS: Of the children, 52% were male and 48% were female. The age range was 2-15 years. Overall, 448 children co-operated with both pulse oximetry and non-invasive blood pressure measurement. Co-operation appeared to increase with increasing age.

DISCUSSION: Of the children, 90% were co-operative with pre-operative monitoring. It could easily be assumed that many of these children, who are referred for general anaesthesia because they are less co-operative than their peers, would not allow proper pre-operative cardiovascular monitoring. This does not appear to be the case.

CONCLUSIONS: The majority of children, including the very young, attending for chair dental general anaesthesia, will co-operate sufficiently to allow cardiovascular monitoring during induction of anaesthesia, even though the majority will not tolerate exodontia under local anaesthesia.