Objective To explore the key points of anesthetic management for drug induced sleep cine magnetic resonance imaging (cine MRI) in children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods Clinical data of eighteen cases of OSA children underwent cine MRI were analyzed retrospectively. Demographics, anesthetic drugs, vital sign profiles, as well as side effects were all included. Results After cine MRI examination, eleven of the eighteen OSA children (61.1%) were found positive results. By dexmedetomidine induction, OSA children occurred serious bradycardia(P<0.05), while SpO2 decreased significantly (P<0.05). During the cine MRI examination, there were two cases of OSA children with ketamine supplementation due to body movement, and the success rate of anesthesia was 88.9%. We found bradycardia in eight cases and the incidence was 44.4%. None of the children had severe hypoxia (SpO2<90%). The incidence of bradycardia in the positive results group (63.6%) was significantly higher than that of negative result group(P<0.05). Conclusion Dexmedetomidine is an efficacious drug used to induce sleep cine magnetic resonance imaging in OSA children with minimal respiratory depression. However, bradycardia is still noteworthy. Ketamine should be considered as a combination drug in case of body movement.