Anesthesiology clinics
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Anesthesiology clinics · Dec 2011
Pharmacology of commonly used analgesics and sedatives in the ICU: benzodiazepines, propofol, and opioids.
The ideal sedative or analgesic agent should have a rapid onset of activity, a rapid recovery after drug discontinuation, a predictable dose response, a lack of drug accumulation,and no toxicity. Unfortunately, none of the earlier analgesics, the benzodiazepines,or propofol share all of these characteristics. ⋯ In addition, the ever-changing dynamics of patients who are critically ill makes the use of sedation a continual challenge during the course of each patient’s admission. To optimize care, clinicians should be familiar with the many pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and pharmacogenetic variables that can affect the safety and efficacy of sedatives and analgesics.
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Anesthesiology clinics · Dec 2011
Sedation and weaning from mechanical ventilation: linking spontaneous awakening trials and spontaneous breathing trials to improve patient outcomes.
The use of sedation has long been integrated into critical care. Because pain, discomfort, anxiety, and agitation are commonly experienced by critically ill patients, the use of medications to alleviate and control these symptoms will continue; however, data showing that prolonged use of sedating medications imparts harm to patients obligate physicians to use agents and methods of sedation that minimize these negative side effects. ⋯ Regardless of choice of sedating agent, and even when patient-targeted sedation protocols are used to minimize oversedation, the use of spontaneous awakening trials dramatically improves patient outcomes for critically ill patients. Intensive care physicians must continue to study the delivery of sedation in efforts to maximize patient comfort while minimizing patient harm.
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As the armamentarium for sedation in the critically ill expands, opportunities will develop to modulate the immune responses of patients by way of the direct immune and neural-immune interactions of the sedatives. Control of autonomic activity through the use of appropriate sedation may be critical in this matter. Likewise analgesic-based sedation, with increased opioid dosage, may not prove beneficial in the setting of infection; whether avoidance of morphine in preference for a fentanyl derivative will help is unclear. ⋯ Similarly, the present evidence suggests benzodiazepines are deleterious in infection; further studies are required urgently to evaluate this evidence. As an alternative to benzodiazepine-based sedation, dexmedetomidine has shown a remarkable 70% mortality benefit in a small secondary analysis of septic patients from the MENDS trial. Further powered clinical studies should now be undertaken to investigate the potential benefit of the α2-adrenoceptor agonist in this setting, with comparisons with propofol.
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Anesthesiology clinics · Dec 2011
Pharmacology of sedative-analgesic agents: dexmedetomidine, remifentanil, ketamine, volatile anesthetics, and the role of peripheral Mu antagonists.
In this article, the authors discuss the pharmacology of sedative-analgesic agents like dexmedetomidine, remifentanil, ketamine, and volatile anesthetics. Dexmedetomidine is a highly selective alpha-2 agonist that provides anxiolysis and cooperative sedation without respiratory depression. It has organ protective effects against ischemic and hypoxic injury, including cardioprotection, neuroprotection, and renoprotection. ⋯ Ketamine is a nonbarbiturate phencyclidine derivative and provides analgesia and apparent anesthesia with relative hemodynamic stability. Volatile anesthetics such as isoflurane, sevoflurane, and desflurane are in daily use in the operating room in the delivery of general anesthesia. A major advantage of these halogenated ethers is their quick onset, quick offset, and ease of titration in rendering the patient unconscious, immobile, and amnestic.
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Despite considerable information on the pharmacotherapy of sedation in the ICU, there is little published on the pharmacoeconomics of sedation in patients who are critically ill. The purpose of this article is to discuss the various components that contribute to the cost of treating the agitated ICU patient and to critically review the articles published since 2000 that evaluated costs and cost-effectiveness in ICU patients receiving drugs for agitation and/or pain. Clinicians should look beyond the acquisition cost of a sedative and include the effect of sedatives on the cost of care when selecting the most appropriate sedative.