Blood Propofol Concentrations in Children During Spinal Surgery

During major spinal surgery evoked potential monitoring is performed to detect spinal cord damage. Intra-venous anaesthesia is the preferred anaesthetic technique because volatile anaesthetic agents supress the evoked potentials. Total Intra-Venous Anaesthesia (TIVA) with propofol is commonly administered as a Target Controlled Infusion (TCI). The TCI is an automated drug delivery system which administers propofol to achieve a desired blood concentration, based on an in built pharmaco-kinetic data (TCI model) derived from previous studies. The TCI model also provides a real time predicted blood concentration to facilitate the anaesthetist to adjust the target concentration of propofol.

The TCI algorithm is based on pharmaco-kinetic data derived from previous studies in a relatively small number of patients, by a "best fit" relationship between blood levels, infusion rates and other factors (such as age and weight). Several factors make it possible for a wide discrepancy between the predicted and the true blood concentrations. This difference can be higher in children compared to adults. Also blood loss and administration of large volumes of intravenous fluids can affect the blood concentrations. This study aims to identify the difference between the predicted and true blood concentrations by using Pelorus 1500, a bedside blood propofol measurement device, in children undergoing major spinal surgery under TIVA.