Pediatric Awake Craniotomy: An Educational Review.

Background: Awake craniotomies with functional cortical mapping are performed to minimize post-operative deficits from the resection of lesions adjacent to eloquent cortex. The procedure is well-established in the adult patient population and is increasingly applied to well-selected pediatric patients. A review of recent literature demonstrated that the most commonly reported anesthetic techniques were "asleep-awake-asleep" protocols that relied on propofol, remifentanil, or fentanyl.