• Xu Liu, Kai Zhang, Wei Wang, Guohao Xie, Baoli Cheng, Yan Wang, Yaoqin Hu, and Xiangming Fang.
• Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Unit, First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
• J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. 2016 Dec 1; 30 (6): 1509-1515.

ObjectivesTo compare the effects of dexmedetomidine and propofol on sublingual microcirculation in patients after cardiac surgery.DesignA prospective, randomized, single-blind study.SettingUniversity hospital.ParticipantsAdult patients undergoing elective valve surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.InterventionsOn arrival in the intensive care unit (ICU), patients were assigned randomly to receive either dexmedetomidine (0.2-1.5 μg/kg/h) or propofol (5-50 μg/kg/min) with open-label titration to a target Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale of 0 to -3.Measurements And Main ResultsSublingual microcirculation was recorded using sidestream dark-field imaging at ICU admission (baseline [T1]) and 4 hours (T2) and 24 hours after ICU admission (T3). At T2, median changes in perfused small-vessel density and the De Backer score from baseline were significantly greater in the dexmedetomidine group (n = 29) than in the propofol group (n = 32) (1.3 v 0 mm/mm2, p = 0.025; 0.9 v -0.1/mm, p = 0.005, respectively); median changes in small-vessel density and the proportion of perfused small vessels from baseline also tended to be higher in the dexmedetomidine group compared with the propofol group (1.0 v -0.1 mm/mm2, p = 0.050; 2.1% v 0.5%, p = 0.062, respectively). At T3, there still was a trend toward greater improvements in the small-vessel density, proportion of perfused small-vessels, perfused small-vessel density, and De Backer score from baseline in the dexmedetomidine group than in the propofol group.ConclusionsThis trial demonstrated that dexmedetomidine sedation may be better able to improve microcirculation in cardiac surgery patients during the early postoperative period compared with propofol.Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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