Sleep Inducing for EEG Recording in Children: A Comparison between Oral Midazolam and Chloral Hydrate

OBJECTIVE: Electroencephalography (EEG) recording is a long duration procedure that needs patient’s cooperation for device setup and performing the procedure. Many children lose their cooperation during this procedure. Therefore, sedation and sleep are frequently induced using a few agents as pre procedure medication in children before EEG recording. We aimed to compare the sedative effects of oral midazolam versus chloral hydrate before the procedure along with their impacts on EEG recording in children. MATERIALS & METHODS: A randomized trial was carried out to compare the sedative effects of oral midazolam versus chloral hydrate and their impacts on EEG recording in children. A total of 198 children (100 in the midazolam group and 98 in the chloral hydrate group) were enrolled in the study and randomly allocated to receive either oral moidazolam or chloral hydrate. RESULTS: Oral midazolam had superiority neither in sleep onset latency nor in sleep duration when compared to chloral hydrate. Moreover, the yield of epileptiform discharges in the chloral hydrate group was more than the midazolam group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that both chloral hydrate 5% (one ml/kg) and oral midazolam (0.5 mg/kg) could be administered as a pre medication agent for EEG recording in children. However, oral midazolam at this dose had no advantage compared with chloral hydrate.