CONTEXT Long-term sedation with midazolam or propofol in intensive care units (ICUs) has serious adverse effects. Dexmedetomidine, an α(2)-agonist available for ICU sedation, may reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation and enhance patient comfort. OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy of dexmedetomidine vs midazolam or propofol (preferred usual care) in maintaining sedation; reducing dura...

INTRODUCTION Sedative and analgesic medications are routinely used in mechanically ventilated patients. The aim of this review is to discuss epidemiologic data that suggest a relationship between infection and sedation, to review available data for the potential causes and pathophysiology of this relationship, and to identify potential preventive measures. METHODS Data for this review were id...

BACKGROUND Sedation and/or analgesia can relieve the patient-ventilator asynchrony. However, whether sedation and/or analgesia can benefit the clinical outcome of the patients with interface intolerance is still unclear. METHODS A retrospective study was performed on patients with interface intolerance who received noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) after extubation in seven in...

INTRODUCTION To study stimulation-related facial electromyographic (FEMG) activity in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, develop an algorithm for quantifying the FEMG activity, and to optimize the algorithm for monitoring the sedation state of ICU patients. METHODS First, the characteristics of FEMG response patterns related to vocal stimulation of 17 ICU patients were studied. Second, we co...

Sleep quality of patients in intensive care unit (ICU) has been recently recognized as an important aspect of the intensive care. Dexmedetomidine is one of the most recently introduced for sedation in the ICU. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of dexmedetomidine on sleep quality of patients without mechanical ventilation in ICU.The patients who were included in this study were divi...

Introduction: This study compares the effectiveness of dexmedetomidine for the sedation of patients admitted to our intensive care unit (ICU) with propofol and midazolam in respect to tracheal extubation and length of stay in ICU and to study changes in heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure, SpO2 during and after sedation. Materials and Methods: A total of 90 patients randomized into three gr...

OBJECTIVE To critically evaluate the use of analgosedation in the management of agitation in critically ill mechanically ventilated patients. DATA SOURCES Literature was accessed through MEDLINE (1948-November 2011) and Cochrane Library (2011, issue 1) using the terms analgosedation, analgosedation, or analgesia-based sedation alone or in combination with intensive care unit or critically ill...

BACKGROUND Daily sedative interruption and intermittent sedation are effective in abbreviating the time on mechanical ventilation. Whether one is superior to the other has not yet been determined. Our aim was to compare daily interruption and intermittent sedation during the mechanical ventilation period in a low nurse staffing ICU. METHODS Adult patients expected to need mechanical ventilati...

Despite the universal prescription of sedative drugs in the intensive care unit (ICU), current practice is not guided by high-level evidence. Landmark sedation trials have made significant contributions to our understanding of the problems associated with ICU sedation and have promoted changes to current practice. We identified challenges and limitations of clinical trials which reduced the gen...

Background: Most patients in intensive care unit (ICU) require both sedation and analgesia to encourage natural sleep, facilitate assisted ventilation modulate physiologic response stress. The ideal sedative after Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) should have rapid onset, immediate resolution of pain anxiety, promote cardiac respiratory stability, maintain a reusability during sedation, al...