Given the continued increase in the complexity of invasive and noninvasive procedures, healthcare practitioners are faced with a larger number of patients requiring procedural sedation. Effective sedation and analgesia during procedures not only provides relief of suffering, but also frequently facilitates the successful and timely completion of the procedure. However, any of the agents used for sedation and/or analgesia may result in adverse effects. These adverse effects most often affect upper airway patency, ventilatory function or the cardiovascular system. This manuscript reviews the pharmacology of the most commonly used agents for sedation and outlines their primary effects on respiratory and cardiovascular function. Suggested guidelines for the avoidance of adverse effects through appropriate pre-sedation evaluation, early identification of changes in respiratory and cardiovascular function, and their treatment are outlined.

We sought to compare the efficacy of midazolam versus dexmedetomidine for sedation during mechanical ventilation in infants and children. We performed a prospective, randomized trial in a pediatric intensive care unit in a tertiary care center. Infants and children requiring mechanical ventilation underwent a continuous infusion of either midazolam (starting dose of 0.1 mg/kg/h) or dexmedetomidine (starting dose of either 0.25 or 0.5 μg/kg/h) with intermittent morphine, as needed. The efficacy of sedation was assessed using the Ramsay sedation scale, pediatric intensive care unit sedation score, and the tracheal suctioning score as well as bispectral monitoring. There were 10 patients in each group. Sedation as assessed by the clinical sedation scores and the bispectral index was equivalent in the 3 groups. There were 36 morphine boluses administered to the midazolam group versus 29 and 20 morphine boluses administered respectively to the 0.25 and 0.5 μg/kg/h dexmedetomidine groups (P = 0.02 for midazolam versus 0.5 μg/kg/h dexmedetomidine). Total morphine use (mg/kg/24 h) was 0.74 ± 0.5, 0.55 ± 0.38, and 0.28 ± 0.12 in the midazolam and the two dexmedetomidine groups respectively (P = not significant for midazolam versus 0.25 dexmedetomidine, P = 0.01 for midazolam versus 0.5 dexmedetomidine). In the two dexmedetomidine groups, 5 of 6 patients who at some point had a Ramsay score of 1 were less than 12 months of age while only 1 was more than 12 months of age (P < 0.05). At a dose of 0.25 μg/kg/h, dexmedetomidine was approximately equivalent to midazolam at 0.22 mg/kg/h. At 0.5 μg/kg/h, dexmedetomidine provided more effective sedation as demonstrated by the need for fewer bolus doses of morphine, a decrease in the 24-hour requirements for supplemental morphine, as well as a decrease in the total number of assessment points with a Ramsay score of 1 (inadequate sedation) and the number of patients who had a Ramsay score of 1.

Neurological complications during critical illness remain a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality. To date, monitors of cerebral function including electroencephalography, jugular bulb mixed venous oxygen saturation and transcranial Doppler, either require an invasive procedure and/or are not sensitive enough to effectively identify patients at risk for cerebral hypoxia. Near-infrared spectroscopy is a noninvasive device that uses infrared light, a technique similar to pulse oximetry, to penetrate living tissue and estimate brain tissue oxygenation by measuring the absorption of infrared light by tissue chromophores. The following article reviews the latest technology available to monitor cerebral oxygenation, near-infrared spectroscopy, its advantages and disadvantages, the currently available evidence-based medicine that demonstrates that this technology can identify deficits in cerebral oxygenation, and that monitoring such deficits allows for therapy to reverse cerebral oxygenation issues and thereby prevent long-term neurological sequelae.