Approximately 1.3 million newborns have congenital heart disease in the world. A significant portion of these patients will require diagnostic catheterization. Anesthesia for catheterization in children is challenging, as there are no specific management guidelines. Most of the literature is in favor of the use of sedation. Goal This study seeks to identify the methods of sedation in pediatric diagnostic cardiac catheterizations, the recovery time from anesthesia and to identify the need for changes in anesthetic technique and the presentation of nausea or vomiting. Materials and methods Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study in pediatric patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization with sedation at the Fundación Cardioinfantil. Results 140 diagnostic catheterizations were performed. The most common ASA status was III. Ketamine was the most used drug. Followed by fentanyl and midazolam. The average duration in the post-anesthetic care unit was 95.73 minutes. Nausea or vomiting occurred in 13 patients during recovery. Only 1 patient required advanced airway management. Discussion The most used drugs were ketamine, fentanyl and midazolam. These drugs agree with what was found in the literature. The presentation of nausea or vomiting prolonged the recovery time. Only 1 patient required orotracheal intubation. conclusion Sedation was a safe method for catheterizations, there was no mortality. Recovery times were longer than those found in the literature, however they are not comparable due to recovery in the ICU.
