Dexmedetomidine Use in Intensive Care Unit Sedation and Postoperative Recovery in Elderly Patients Post-Cardiac Surgery (DIRECT).

OBJECTIVE: This study examined recovery, delirium, and neurocognitive outcome in elderly patients receiving dexmedetomidine or propofol sedation after undergoing cardiac surgery. DESIGN: Open-label randomized trial. SETTING: Single center. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 70 patients older than 75 years without English language limitations and Mini Mental State Examination scores >20. INTERVENTIONS: Patients received either propofol (group P) or dexmedetomidine (group D) postoperatively until normothermic and hemodynamically stable. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Quality of recovery (QoR) was measured by the QoR-40 questionnaire on postoperative day (POD) three. Secondary outcomes were incidence and duration of delirium, time to extubation, length of hospital stay, hospital mortality rate, postoperative quality of life (QoL; measured by SF-36 performed at baseline and six months postoperatively), and neurocognitive disorder (measured by Minnesota Cognitive Acuity Screen [MCAS] performed at baseline, POD5, and six months postoperatively). A total of sixty-seven patients completed the trial. There was no significant difference in QoR-40 scores (95% confidence interval [CI], -7.6081-to-10.9781; p = 1.000), incidence of delirium (group P, 42%; group D, 24%; p = 0.191), mean hospital stay (95% CI, -5.4838-to-1.5444; p = 0.297), mean time to extubation (95% CI, -19.2513-to-7.5561; p = 0.866), or mean duration of delirium (95% CI, -4.3065-to-1.067; p = 0.206) between groups. No patients died in the hospital. There were no significant differences in changes in SF-36 or MCAS scores over time between groups. There was a decline in MCAS score from preoperatively to POD5 in group P (95% CI, -8.95725-to- -2.61775; p = 0.0005), which was greater than that observed in group D. CONCLUSIONS: The authors' findings demonstrated that the use of dexmedetomidine compared with propofol in elderly patients undergoing cardiac surgery was unlikely to improve QoR/postoperative QoL. Although the study was underpowered to detect secondary outcomes, the results suggested no reductions in delirium, time to extubation, and hospital stay, but a potential decrease in delayed neurocognitive recovery.