Intracarotid propofol injection for WADA testing in a paediatric patient–A case report

Abstract

Surgical management of drug-resistant epilepsy is a well-established method and the lateralization of language and/or memory is essential to avoid resection of the eloquent cortex. The Wada test was developed in the 1960s to determine the lateralization of language and memory by injecting a short-acting anaesthetic drug into the carotid artery, narcotising one single hemisphere and testing the performance of the other isolated hemisphere [1]. Originally, sodium amytal was used, but after its production was stopped in the mid-2000s, it was replaced by methohexital as an alternative drug, which also ceased to be available after 2015.