Sedation and plasma concentration of clonidine hydrochloride for pre-anesthetic medication in pediatric surgery.

Clonidine hydrochloride has been used for pre-anesthetic medication to provide a pre-operative sedation in pediatric surgery. The purpose of this study is to determine the plasma clonidine concentration, which gives satisfactory sedation in pediatric surgery. Sixteen pediatric patients (age: 1-11 years, weight: 9-33 kg) received either 2 or 4 microg/kg of clonidine lollipop before entering the operating room. Plasma clonidine concentrations were determined 120 min after administration of clonidine lollipop. Pre-operative sedation was evaluated by 5-point scoring systems at entering the operating room. The changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) were also assessed before and after administration of clonidine lollipop. The patients with satisfactory sedation had higher plasma clonidine concentration than that of the patients with unsatisfactory sedation (0.45+/-0.16 ng/ml vs. 0.26+/-0.16 ng/ml, p<0.05). The clonidine concentrations in the satisfactory group ranged from 0.28 to 0.81 ng/ml. There was no significant difference in hemodynamic parameters (SBP, DBP and HR) before and after administration of clonidine lollipop in both satisfactory and unsatisfactory sedation groups. Plasma clonidine concentration of 0.3-0.8 ng/ml would be sufficient to produce satisfactory sedation without changes in hemodynamic parameters in pediatric surgery.