Abstract
After the reported successful use of dexmedetomidine to sedate patients in the intensive care unit without respiratory depression, we began to use dexmedetomidine for interventional neuroradiologic procedures. We report on five patients who had dexmedetomidine administered for sedation during embolization of cerebral arteriovenous malformations. All patients were comfortably sedated and breathing spontaneously. However, although patients were awake and following simple commands 10 minutes after the discontinuation of the infusion of dexmedetomidine, they were nevertheless unable to undergo cognitive testing. They were still unable to undergo cognitive testing 45 minutes after the infusion was stopped. In contrast, 10 minutes after the discontinuation of the infusion of propofol, all patients were awake, alert, cooperative, and able to undergo cognitive testing without difficulty. In conclusion, on examination of five nonrandomly selected case records, we found that dexmedetomidine significantly prevented neurologic and cognitive testing.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 209-212 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2002 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cerebral
- Dexmedetomidine
- Human
- Interventional neuroradiology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Clinical Neurology
- Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine