Conscious Sedation for Interventional Procedures: A Practical Guide

Sedation is often used in interventional procedures to minimize discomfort, improve the patient’s experience, and reduce the risk of procedural complications by assuring nonmobility and compliance of the patient. Sedation, however, adds a new dimension to the procedure by compromising the patients’ normal protective mechanisms and carries the potential of cardiac, respiratory, and cognitive complications. Interventional procedures could be performed under local anesthesia with or without sedation, or under general anesthesia. Sedation itself could be categorized into minimal, moderate, or deep sedation. The choice generally depends on patient factors such as age, cardiovascular stability, pain tolerance, and procedural factors such as complexity, extent, and degree of induced pain. In longer and more extensive procedures on more fragile patients, the assistance of an anesthesiologist will be required. The purpose of this article is to provide a basic understanding and a practical guideline for minimal and moderate sedation for the interventionalist contemplating to administer sedation for less involved procedures.