Optimal Dose of Dexmedetomidine Sedation Following Spinal Anesthesia: Postpartum Versus Nonpregnant Women

Currently, spinal anesthesia is most commonly used for cesarean section.But spinal anesthesia can not block the visceral vagus nerve, and the patients are prone to nausea, vomiting, chest tightness or other discomfort when the uterus is stretched .For parturients who have poor uterine contractions and are bleeding larger, obstetricians often use oxytocin to strengthen the contraction of the uterine,which also would increase the parturients' discomfort.Anesthesiologists often intravenous sedative hypnotics (eg.propofol or midazolam) to alleviate the fear of the parturients after the baby is delivered.One of the side effects of propofol or midazolam is that they would lead to the respiratory depression.For the poor respiratory reserve of the parturients, functional residual capacity(FRC) of this group could be reduced by up to 20%, and the oxygen consumption was also increased.The SPO2 could decline quickly intraoperatively.Dexmedetomidine is a novel , highly selective α2 adrenergic receptor agonists , and its selectivity for α2 receptor is 1600 times higher than α1.It also could provide dose-dependent sedation , analgesia , anti-anxiety and inhibition of sympathetic nerves and other effects.Because of its minimal impact on the respiratory , it could safely and effectively used to sedate patients undergoing cesarean section.But the change of endocrine system and hemodynamic of the parturients may affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of some anesthetic drugs.Currently studies have demonstrated the increased sensitivity of some anesthetic drug in parturients, such as lidocaine and isoflurane.The study is aim to explore the optimal dexmedetomidine dose to produce suitable sedation in parturients ,and compared with norman nonpregnant women.