Intravenous Clonidine for Sedation in Infants and Children Who Are Mechanically Ventilated - Dosing Finding Study

All critically ill mechanically ventilated infants and children receive intravenous analgesic-sedatives which often include opiates and benzodiazepines (BENZO). Undesirable side effects from these drugs include respiratory depression, tolerance and dependence. Alpha 2-adrenergic receptor agonists, dexmedetomidine (DEX) and clonidine (CLON) have excellent sedative-analgesics effects, do not cause respiratory depression and are opiate/BENZO sparing. While both are efficacious in providing sedation, several factors have led to a substantial increase in the use of the newer drug DEX over the more established drug CLON in adults, children and infants. However, studies to guide therapy and dosing for infants and children are lacking. While these infants and children do require less opiate/BENZO therapy and fewer days on mechanical ventilation, they quickly develop tolerance to and have significant withdrawal from DEX. This necessitates protracted weaning of DEX and longer length of stay in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) since DEX can only be administered as a continuous intravenous (IV) infusion. CLON, on the other hand, has a longer half-life and has formulations that allow for continuous or intermittent IV and oral administration. Dr. Gauda has an approved IND to use the epidural formulation of CLON intravenously in infants and children. The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the effective IV dosing scheme of CLON that can be safely used as an adjunct to analgesic-sedation management for infants and children in the PICU. It will include a total of 24 infants and children with 4 CLON and DEX exposed in each age stratum: 0-3, 4-6, and 7-12 months. We hypothesize that IV CLON can achieve optimal sedation and reduce the need for opiate/BENZO therapy in critically ill infants and children who would otherwise receive DEX, and thus, reduce the length of stay in the PICU. Data from this study will be used to inform a larger randomized trial and will directly benefit infants and children in Baltimore who are critically ill. Funds are requested to cover the cost of the CLON drug levels and the investigational pharmacy.