Clinical use of Dexmedetomidine for Sedation - Abstract
Current increase of invasive and noninvasive clinical procedures creates great demand for sedation. This sedation may also provide analgesia, anxiolysis, and hypnosis. Protection of respiratory and cardiovascular system is very crucial in anesthesia and intensive care procedures. Thus appropriately given sedation may reduce the duration of surgical procedures, create excellent pain management, improve the quality of technique and increase patient comfort. Moreover, selection, dosing, combination and administration of proper anesthetic medications are important for appropriate sedation and anesthesia.
Current papers show that Dexmedetomidine is widely and safely used anesthetic medication in pediatric and adult population. It may be administered for sedation, analgesia, general and regional anesthesia alone or with another drug combination. Dexmedetomidine provides sedation with no respiratory depression that makes an advantage in clinical use. Dexmedetomidine is also introduced as an organ protective anesthetic medication.
High bioavailability of sublingual dexmedetomidine which is about 84% increases the importanc of it in pediatric sedation settings. Excretion ways are mostly urine (95%) and feces (4%).
Emergency medicine, surgery, cardiology (PCC), radiology (MRI and CT-scan, EEG), Intensive Care unit are the fields where dexmedetomidine extensively used.