Ravichandra Dodawad1, G. B. Sumalatha2, Sandeep P3, Parashuram Jajee4
INTRODUCTION: Electroonvulsive therapy is associated with hemodynamic responses similar to that of laryngoscopy and intubation. Alpha adrenergnic agents have been tried to attenuate this stress response effectively among which dexmedetomidine is of special interest as it is highly selective α-2 agonist.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hundred patients belonging to American Society of Anaesthesiology (I-II) were allocated randomly in to two groups as group D and group C to receive dexmedetomidine (0.6 μg/kg) or saline diluted to a volume of 10 ml with 0.9% saline intravenously over 10 minutes before induction. Group c received 1mg/kg lignocaine 90seconds before induction with. Heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded at baseline (T0) and 1, 3, 5 and 10minutes after the seizure (T1, T3, T5 and T10 respectively). The motor seizure duration was recorded.
RESULTS: HR in dexmedetomidine group was lower than that in the control group at 5 and 8 min after the start of drug infusion, and at 1, 3, 5 and 10min after the ECT shock (P<0.05). Peak HR and MAP were lower in the dexmedetomidine group compared with that in the control group (P<0.05) after ECT shock. There was no significant difference in motor seizure duration (group C - 39.56±8.1, group D - 34.23±9.0) in both groups. CONCLUSION: Dexmedetomidine at a dose of 0.6μg/kg is as effective in blunting the stress response of ECT without altering motor seizure duration and recovery
