Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Anesthesiol. Mar 27, 2016; 5(1): 1-14
Published online Mar 27, 2016. doi: 10.5313/wja.v5.i1.1
Dexmedetomidine in gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures
Somchai Amornyotin
Somchai Amornyotin, Department of Anesthesiology and Siriraj Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Center, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand
Author contributions: Amornyotin S solely contributed to the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Somchai Amornyotin, Associate Professor of Department of Anesthesiology and Siriraj Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Center, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, 2, Wanglang Rd., Siriraj, Bangkoknoi, Bangkok 10700, Thailand. somchai.amo@mahidol.ac.th
Telephone: +66-2-4197990 Fax: +66-2-4113256
Received: April 8, 2015
Peer-review started: April 9, 2015
First decision: September 2, 2015
Revised: November 14, 2015
Accepted: December 4, 2015
Article in press: December 8, 2015
Published online: March 27, 2016
Processing time: 352 Days and 4 Hours
Abstract

Gastrointestinal endoscopy is the gold standard in the examination and the treatment of the diseases of gastrointestinal system, but the disadvantage of being painful process. At this point the sedative and analgesic agents may be important. Dexmedetomidine is a new sedoanalgesic agent which is alternative to benzodiazepines and opioids. It has analgesia, amnesia, sedative and anxiolytic properties. The use of dexmedetomidine as the sole anesthetic agent and as the adjuvant analgesic agent has been published but has not been approved because of the inconsistency of efficacy and safety. The author has been collected the published papers in the literature. This article is aimed to describe the use of dexmedetomidine in various gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures.

Keywords: Complication; Safety; Dexmedetomidine; Gastrointestinal endoscopy; Sedation

Core tip: Dexmedetomidine has analgesic, amnesic, sedative and anxiolytic properties. Use of dexmedetomidine as the sole anesthetic agent and as the adjuvant anesthetic agent in various gastrointestinal endoscopic (GIE) procedures has been published. A distinct advantage of dexmedetomidine is the maintenance of respiratory force and preserved airway patency. These properties of dexmedetomidine have verified to be beneficial in high-risk patients. This article is aimed to explain the clinical use of dexmedetomidine for GIE procedures of the published papers in the literature.