Sedation to Electroencephalography With Dexmedetomidine or Chloral Hydrate

Sedation to Electroencephalography With Dexmedetomidine or Chloral Hydrate: a Comparative Study of the Qualitative and Quantitative Electroencephalogram Pattern

This study evaluates the use of dexmedetomidine or chloral hydrate for sedation during electroencephalography in patients with neurological disorders. The hypothesis is that this drugs provides similar changes in EEG pattern.

Patients with chronic neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy or autism need to be sedated during electroencephalography (EEG). However, various sedatives and hypnotics affect the outcome of the review and is not shown. Chloral hydrate (CH) is widely used in children, but in this patients it is less effective.Recently, dexmedetomidine (DEX) has been tested because preliminary data suggests that this drug does not affect the EEG. The aim of the present work was to compare the electroencephalogram (EEG) pattern during CH or DEX sedation, to test the hypothesis that both drugs exert similar effects in EEG.Seventeen patients were evaluated during sedation with DEX or CH on separate occasions.The EEG was subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis. Clinical variables were also compared.

Inclusion Criteria:

• neurological disorder
• behavior disorder
• epilepsy

Exclusion Criteria:

• cardiac disease
• respiratory disease