Dose efetiva de seda？？o em ecocardiograma transesofágico: rela？？o com idade, área de superfície e fun？？o do ventrículo esquerdo

background: sedation with midazolam and meperidine is widely used in transesophageal echocardiography. however, no mean dose is established for each individual case. objective: to correlate the mean midazolam and meperidine doses for proper sedation for transesophageal echocardiography with age range, body surface area, and left ventricular ejection fraction. methods: retrospective study comprising 1,841 patients undergoing sedation based on the ramsay scale, with a solution containing midazolam 1.5 mg (1.5 ml), meperidine 1 mg (1 ml) and distilled water (7.5 ml). four age groups were analyzed: g1: < 24 years; g2: 25 to 44 years; g3: 45 to 64 years; and g4: > 65 years. body surface area was calculated using the formula {[(height x 100)0.725] x (weight0.425) x 0.0071}. as regards the left ventricular ejection fraction, two groups were studied: ga: < 55%; and gb: > 55%. the statistical analysis was carried out using the kruskal-wallis test for the correlation with age and left ventricular ejection fraction, and simple linear correlation for body surface area. results: as regards age, the mean doses of sedation required were significantly lower in g3 and g4 (p<0.01). the analysis of left ventricular ejection fraction showed that this was significantly lower in ga (p<0.01). the linear correlation coefficient between dose of sedation and body surface area was 0.09 (null). conclusion: the mean dose of sedatives required was lower in older individuals and in those with left ventricular systolic dysfunction. no correlation with body surface area was found.