Sevoflurane sparing effect of dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A randomized...

Sevoflurane is an excellent but expensive anesthetic agent for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. To decrease sevoflurane consumption during surgery adjuvants like dexmedetomidine may be used. Dexmedetomidine is a recently introduced drug which alleviates the stress response of surgery, produces sedation and analgesia. We aimed to evaluate sevoflurane sparing effect of dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy under entropy-guided general anesthesia (GA).

In this prospective randomized control study, 100 American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-II adult surgical patients scheduled to undergo laparoscopic cholecystectomy were enrolled. Patients were randomly divided into two groups (n = 50). In dexmedetomidine group, patients received intravenous (IV) dexmedetomidine 0.5 μg/kg over 10 min before induction followed by 0.5 μg/kg/h infusion while in control group, patients received the same volume of normal saline.

Sevoflurane consumption was 41% lower in dexmedetomidine group as compared to control group (7.1 [1.6] vs. 12.1 [1.9] ml, P <0.001). A 40% reduction was observed in induction dose of propofol (83.0 [19.1] vs. 127.6 [24.8] mg, P <0.001). Mean Riker sedation-agitation score, visual analog score for pain and Aldrete's score were significantly lower in dexmedetomidine group as compared to control group. None of the patients experienced any significant side effects.

A 41% reduction in sevoflurane consumption was observed in patients receiving IV dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy under GA.