• Veli-Pekka Harjola, Jukka Tolonen, Juhani Rossinen, and Hannu Alho.
• aDepartment of Medicine, Division of Emergency Medicine, Helsinki and Uusimaa District University Hospital, Helsinki bDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Middle Finland Central Hospital, Jyväskylä cNational Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
• Eur J Emerg Med. 2013 Dec 1;20(6):425-7.

AbstractAlcohol withdrawal delirium (AWD) is often refractory to conventional medication. We report a prospective series of patients treated with α2-agonist dexmedetomidine added to conventional sedation. Eighteen patients with AWD were diagnosed by Confusion assessment method for ICU score. Treatment, complications, length of stay (LOS) in ICU and hospital were recorded. In addition, hospital and 1-year mortality were assessed. Dexmedetomidine was given for 23.9 (18.4) h [mean (SD)]. All the patients also received benzodiazepines but three patients were given haloperidole. No patient was intubated. The maximum infusion rate of dexmedetomidine was 1.5 (1.2) µg/kg/h. Time to resolution of AWD was 3.8 (1.3) days. The ICU LOS was 7.1 (2.7) days and in-hospital LOS 12.1 (4.5) days. No adverse events were observed although one patient died from acute pancreatitis. The use of dexmedetomidine in AWD seems safe but warrants further studies.

35 keywords...

hide…