Korean J Crit Care Med.  2013 Nov;28(4):314-317. 10.4266/kjccm.2013.28.4.314.

Sedation with Dexmedetomidine during Tracheostomy in Severe Tracheal Stenotic Patients

• Jun I
• Kim KM
• Lee SS
• Yoo BH
• Lee YY
• Lim YH
• Song SJ
• Kim MC

• KMID: 1977509
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2013.28.4.314

Abstract

In patients with severely compromised airways, a tracheostomy is usually performed under local anesthesia. Dexmedetomidine can be a better choice of sedative for such patients because it causes minimal respiratory depression. We report two cases of patients with severe stenosis of the airways who underwent sedation with dexmedetomidine during tracheostomy under local anesthesia. In the first case, recurrent laryngeal cancer caused laryngeal stenosis, and the narrowest laryngeal width was less than 3 mm. In the second case, the tracheostomy opening site was narrowed to a diameter of 3.4 mm in a patient with a history of total laryngectomy. For both patients, sedation was induced by dexmedetomidine infusion and the tracheostomy was performed successfully under local anesthesia without any events. Dexmedetomidine seems to be an effective and safe sedative for tracheostomies in patients with critical airways. The management and implications of sedation with dexmedetomidine in the patients with severe stenotic airways are discussed.

Keyword

dexmedetomidine; sedation; tracheostomy

MeSH Terms

Anesthesia, Local
Constriction, Pathologic
Dexmedetomidine*
Humans
Laryngeal Neoplasms
Laryngectomy
Laryngostenosis
Respiratory Insufficiency
Tracheostomy*
Dexmedetomidine