Paediatric Radiation Therapy without Anaesthesia – Are the Children Moving?

Although generally safe [1], use of anaesthesia in paediatric radiation oncology can be costly [2] and cumbersome, and adds to the burden of cancer treatment in children and adolescents.[3,4] In many institutions, a substantial proportion of young children and some adolescents undergo general anaesthesia for radiation treatments.[2,5] At our institution, a multi-faceted approach has been used to reduce anaesthesia utilization as part of standard-of-care radiotherapy (RT): presence of a dedicated paediatric nurse for procedural preparation, comfort objects (e.g., stuffed animal), and most importantly, audiovisual distraction (television).

Source: Radiotherapy and Oncology - February 2, 2024 Category: Radiology Authors: Tatiana Ritchie, Susan Awrey, Manjula Maganti, Rehab Chahin, Michael Velec, David C. Hodgson, Hitesh Dama, Sameera Ahmed, Jeff D. Winter, Normand Laperriere, Derek S. Tsang Tags: Original Article Source Type: research