Effect of Dexmedetomidine on Inflammatory Response in Aortic Dissection.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of dexmedetomidine (Dex) on perioperative inflammatory response in aortic dissection (AD) patients. METHODS: From June 2020 to June 2022, 50 patients with Stanford type B AD underwent endovascular stent-graft exclusion (EVAR) at our hospital. They randomly were assigned to two groups (N = 25): the control group (C group) and the Dex group. Patients in the Dex group received 0.5ug/kg Dex intravenously 10 minutes before induction of anesthesia and 0.5µg/kg/h Dex during the intervention until 15 minutes before the end of surgery. In contrast, the C group received the same volume of normal saline at the same time points. The two groups were induced and maintained with the same anesthetic agents. Venous blood samples were taken 3 days before operation (T1), 1 day before operation (T2), 1 day after operation (T3) and 3 days after operation (T4) to detect levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell count (WBC). RESULTS: At T3 and T4, CRP and ESR in the Dex group were significantly improved compared with those in the C group. CONCLUSION: Dexmedetomidine can reduce the inflammatory reaction of aortic dissection.

Comparative Efficacy of Local and General Anesthesia for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: This meta-analysis aimed to compare the potential effects of local anesthesia (LA) and general anesthesia (GA) for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). MEASUREMENTS: All relevant studies were searched from Pubmed, EMbase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library (January 1, 2016, to June 1, 2021). The main outcomes of this literature meta-analysis were 30-day mortality, procedural time, new pacemaker implantation, total stay in the hospital, use of the vasoactive drug, and intra-and postoperative complications and emergencies, including conversion to open, myocardial infarction, pulmonary complication, vascular complication, renal injury/failure, stroke, transesophageal echocardiography, life-threatening/major bleeding, cardiac tamponade, and emergency PCI. Pooled risk ratio (RR) and mean difference (MD) together with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 17 studies, including 20938 patients, in the final analysis, fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Intra-and postoperative complications (myocardial infarction, vascular complication, renal injury/failure, stroke, and cardiac tamponade) undergoing TAVI in severe AS patients under GA do not offer a significant difference compared with LA. No differences were observed between LA and GA for new pacemaker implantation, total stay in the hospital, transesophageal echocardiography, and emergency PCI. LA has lower mortality compared with GA (RR 0.69, P = 0.600), pulmonary complications (RR 0.54, P = 0.278), life-threatening/major bleeding (RR 0.85, P = 0.855), and lower times of conversion to open (RR 0.22, P = 0.746). LA has many advantages, including a shorter procedure duration (MD=-0.38, P = 0.000) and reduction of the use of the vasoactive drug (RR 0.57, P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: For TAVI, both LA with or without sedation and GA are feasible and safe. LA appears a feasible alternative to GA for AS patients undergoing TAVI.