title: Awake craniotomy with dexmedetomidine in pediatric patients.
abstract: We present our experience with the use of dexmedetomidine, an alpha2 agonist, in two children undergoing awake craniotomy. General anesthesia with the laryngeal mask airway was used for parts of the procedure not requiring patient cooperation to reduce the duration of wakefulness and abolish the discomfort of surgical stimulation. Dexmedetomidine was used as a primary anesthetic for brain mapping of the cortical speech area. The asleep-awake-sleep technique provided adequate sedation and analgesia throughout the surgery and allowed the patient to complete the necessary neuropsychological tests. To our knowledge, ours is the first description of the use of dexmedetomidine in pediatric neurosurgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, New York University Medical Center, New York, New York 10016, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ard
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bekker
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000379:methods*; D020927:Dexmedetomidine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D020927:Dexmedetomidine