Abstract
Objective
To compare postoperative analgesia provided by a constant rate infusion (CRI) of dexmedetomidine
(DMED) to that of a well-established positive control [morphine (MOR)] in critically
ill dogs. The sedative, cardiorespiratory effects and clinical safety of a 24-hour
DMED CRI were also evaluated.
Study design
Prospective, randomised, blinded, positive-controlled parallel-group clinical study.
Animals
Forty hospitalised, client-owned dogs requiring post-operative pain management after
invasive surgery.
Methods
After surgery, a loading dose of either DMED (25 μg m−2) or MOR (2500 μg m−2) followed by a 24-hour CRI of DMED (25 μg m−2 hour−1) or MOR (2500 μg m−2 hour−1) was administered. Pain was measured using the Short Form of the Glasgow Composite
Measure Pain Scale, sedation and physiological variables were scored at regular intervals.
Animals considered to be painful received rescue analgesia and were allocated to a
post-rescue protocol; animals which were unresponsive to rescue analgesia were removed from the
study. Data were analysed with anova, two-sample t-tests or Chi-square tests. Time to intervention was analysed with Kaplan–Meier methodology.
Results
Forty dogs were enrolled. Twenty dogs (9 DMED and 11 MOR) did not require rescue analgesia.
Eleven DMED and eight MOR dogs were allocated to the post-rescue protocol and seven of these removed from the study. Significant differences in pain
scores between groups were not observed during the first 12 hours, however, DMED dogs
were less (p = 0.009) painful during the last 12 hours. Sedation score over the entire 24-hour
study was not significantly different between groups.
Conclusion / Clinical Relevance
Dexmedetomidine CRI was equally effective as MOR CRI at providing postoperative analgesia
and no clinically significant adverse reactions were noted. This study shows the potential
of DMED to contribute to a balanced postoperative analgesia regimen in dogs.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
October 20,
2008
Received:
September 29,
2008
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
