This pilot study found that a 0.03 μg/kg/h dexmedetomidine infusion improved objective and subjective sleep quality in patients admitted to the ICU after laryngectomy. The dosing regimen used was safe and feasible for use in clinical practice.

In this investigation, we studied the effect of nighttime dexmedetomidine infusion on objective and subjective sleep quality in patients who admitted to the ICU after laryngectomy.

Our major finding was that 0.3 μg-1kg-1h-1 dexmedetomidine infusion increased the percentage of non-REM stage 3 sleep and improved patients’ subjective sleep quality.

Studies using polysomnography showed that the sleep pattern of ICU patients was characterized as disorganized circadian rhythm, prolonged sleep latencies, fragmented sleep, decreased sleep efficiency, abnormally increased stages N1 and N2 sleep, and decreased or absent of N3 sleep and REM sleep.

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