|
| |
Claudia Cheng
Class
- Alpha
2 adrenergic agonist
- Sedative
with some analgesic properties
Clinical uses
- Licensed
for sedation in initially intubated and mechanically ventilated adult
patients during treatment in an intensive care setting for up to 24 hours
only
- Significantly
reduces postoperative concurrent analgesic and sedative requirements
- Patients
sedated with dexmedetomidine
appear to be asleep while being readily arousable and interactive
when stimulated without respiratory depression
- Most
clinical experiences with Dex are in postoperative patients
- Role
of dexmedetomidine
in medical ICU patients and for
longer term use (>24 h) need to be further defined
Adverse reactions
- Cardiovascular
- Bolus
dosing to be avoided as associated with transient hypertension,
hypotension and bradycardia, sinus arrest in presence of hypovolemia or
high sympathetic tone
- Gastrointestinal
- Central
nervous system
- Hematologic
- Renal
Monitoring parameters
- Blood
pressure and heart rate
Dosing
- Dosing
for ICU sedation: initial loading infusion of 1 µg/kg over 10 minutes,
followed by a maintenance infusion of 0.2 – 0.7 µg/kg/hour
(individualized and titrated to clinical effect)
- Dexmedetomidine
200 µg/2 ml injection
© Claudia Cheng, December 2003
|
