Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul;48(7):801-810.
doi: 10.1007/s00134-022-06660-x. Epub 2022 May 19.

Use of dexmedetomidine for sedation in mechanically ventilated adult ICU patients: a rapid practice guideline

Affiliations

Use of dexmedetomidine for sedation in mechanically ventilated adult ICU patients: a rapid practice guideline

Morten H Møller et al. Intensive Care Med. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this Intensive Care Medicine Rapid Practice Guideline (ICM‑RPG) was to formulate evidence‑based guidance for the use of dexmedetomidine for sedation in invasively mechanically ventilated adults in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: We adhered to the methodology for trustworthy clinical practice guidelines, including use of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach to assess the certainty of evidence, and the Evidence-to-Decision framework to generate recommendations. The guideline panel comprised 28 international panelists, including content experts, ICU clinicians, methodologists, and patient representatives. Through teleconferences and web‑based discussions, the panel provided input on the balance and magnitude of the desirable and undesirable effects, the certainty of evidence, patients' values and preferences, costs and resources, feasibility, acceptability, and research priorities.

Results: The ICM‑RPG panel issued one weak recommendation (suggestion) based on overall moderate certainty of evidence: "In invasively mechanically ventilated adult ICU patients, we suggest using dexmedetomidine over other sedative agents, if the desirable effects including a reduction in delirium are valued over the undesirable effects including an increase in hypotension and bradycardia".

Conclusion: This ICM-RPG provides updated evidence-based guidance on the use of dexmedetomidine for sedation in mechanically ventilated adults, and outlines uncertainties and research priorities.

Keywords: Clinical practice guideline; Dexmedetomidine; ICM-RPG; Sedation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Reade MC, Finfer S (2014) Sedation and delirium in the intensive care unit. N Engl J Med 370:444–454. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1208705 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zaal IJ, Devlin JW, Peelen LM, Slooter AJC (2015) A systematic review of risk factors for delirium in the ICU*. Crit Care Med 43:40–47. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0000000000000625 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Devlin JW, Skrobik Y, Gélinas C et al (2018) Clinical practice guidelines for the prevention and management of pain, agitation/sedation, delirium, immobility, and sleep disruption in adult patients in the ICU. Crit Care Med 46:e825–e873. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0000000000003299 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Duprey MS, Dijkstra-Kersten SMA, Zaal IJ et al (2021) Opioid use increases the risk of delirium in critically Ill adults independently of pain. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 204:566–572. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.202010-3794OC - DOI - PubMed
    1. Weerink MAS, Struys MMRF, Hannivoort LN et al (2017) Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of dexmedetomidine. Clin Pharmacokinet 56:893–913. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40262-017-0507-7 - DOI - PubMed - PMC

LinkOut - more resources