Intermittent dosing cuts time to extubation for surgical patients

March 1, 2018|Internal Medicine

Reporting from CCC47

SAN ANTONIO – Intermittent administration of sedation and analgesia significantly reduced mechanical ventilation time among surgical patients requiring ventilation, according to a preliminary analysis of a randomized trial.

Additionally, the researchers found that much lower amounts of sedation and analgesia were given to patients who underwent intermittent dosing, compared with patients who received a continuous infusion.

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Lead investigator Nicholas Sich, MD, presented these findings of the SATIRE trial (Sedation Administration Timing: Intermittent Dosing Reduces Times to Extubation), at the Critical Care Congress sponsored by the Society for Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Sich’s study was a 2-year, single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial of surgical patients requiring ventilation.

Of the 95 patients in the trial, 39 were randomized to intermittent dosing and 56 to the control group of continuous infusion, with the drugs midazolam and fentanyl having been given to both groups.