title: [Remifentanil for awake craniotomy].
abstract: We report two cases of awake craniotomy successfully managed using remifentanil. During the intraoperative awake period lasting 2 to 2.5 hours, the infusion of low doses of remifentanil (0.02-0.05 microg x kg(-1) min(-1)) with or without propofol kept the patients comfortable and sufficiently awake to conduct various tasks but did not produce excessive respiratory depression. Because remifentanil can be titrated rapidly due to its extremely short duration of action, it may be useful for awake craniotomy for which both analgesia and sedation have to be tuned carefully according to the patient's need.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Yokohama City University Hospital, Yokohama 236-0004.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Rieko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: Takahisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D018686:Anesthetics, Intravenous; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000379:methods*; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010880:Piperidines; D000077208:Remifentanil; D014851:Wakefulness
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D018686:Anesthetics, Intravenous; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D010880:Piperidines; D000077208:Remifentanil