Decrease Emergence Agitation and Provide Pain Relief for Children Undergoing Tonsillectomy & Adenoidectomy

Summary

Pediatric tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy) is a brief but painful surgery carried out in children who very often also present with obstructive sleep apnea. To provide pain relief, i.e. analgesia, current practice relies on opioids , e.g., morphine or fentanyl. These narcotics are known to depress respiration and to increase the incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting. These side effects are worrisome in this patient cohort. An alternative medication, dexmedetomidine, may have an opiate sparing effect and has a high safety profile in adults as well as in sedation in children. The purpose of this study is to determine if intravenous dexmedetomidine given as an infusion during general anesthesia for tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy reduces the incidence and severity of emergence agitation, improves analgesia and reduces nausea and vomiting in the 60 minutes following surgery.

Timeline

Start

2007-03

Primary completion

2008-05

Completion

2008-05

Publications

• Background Isik B, Arslan M, Tunga AD, Kurtipek O. Dexmedetomidine decreases emergence agitation in pediatric patients after sevoflurane anesthesia without surgery. Paediatr Anaesth. 2006 Jul;16(7):748-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9592.2006.01845.x.

Drugs

Indications