Paediatric total intravenous anaesthesia and target-controlled infusion

Abstract

Total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) is a technique of anaesthesia where the agents administered are given exclusively by the intravenous route, while target-controlled infusion (TCI) is a computer-controlled system that is intended to achieve a user-defined “target” drug concentration in a specific body compartment or tissue of interest.¹ It does this by performing rapid sequential calculations every 8 to 10 seconds to estimate the infusion rate required either in the plasma or at the effect site of action of the drug.² The use of propofol-based TIVA and TCI in the paediatric population is becoming common. There are, however, multiple considerations and limitations which do not allow for simple translation from adult data.