Pediatric Anesthesia Treatment For Pediatric Cancers

After an initial consultation with the doctor, it may be determined that your child will require anesthesia during radiation treatment. This is often the case for pediatric patients, particularly for younger children.

Our dedicated staff is highly experienced with the treatment of children under anesthesia. The Radiation Oncology Department works closely with the Department of Anesthesia to ensure that both the radiotherapy and anesthesia are administered safely and effectively.

If your child is to receive anesthesia here is some helpful information for you to have regarding the treatment:

• For daily anesthesia your child will need to have a central line. A central line is like an intravenous catheter (IV) and is placed in a vein in your child’s chest during a short surgery. This line enables the anesthesiologists to administer daily medication to your child without the use of needles. The appropriate dosage of medication needed for daily anesthesia is pre-determined.
• Your child should have an empty stomach before receiving anesthesia.
• All anesthesia cases are thus done early in the morning.
• Children are monitored after treatment by the nursing staff and anesthesiology
• Although treatment time may only take 30 minutes, you should expect to stay for approximately one hour or more after treatment until your child wakes up and the nurse feels safe to let him/her go home.