India, June 6 -- When we come to think about medical care, we often make the mistake of presuming children to be smaller versions of adults. But in anaesthesia, this assumption can turn out to be dangerously misleading. From the absorption of the drugs to the way airways respond, children need fundamentally different and highly specialised care to ensure proper safety.

In comparison to adults, children's bodies are still in their developmental stage, where their organs, mainly the liver and kidneys, process medication very differently. Their brain and respiratory systems are a lot more sensitive to sedatives and anaesthetic agents. This makes dosing a lot more difficult and less predictable, increasing the risk of both underdosing and ov...