Pharmacokinetics of long-term sufentanil infusion for sedation in ICU patients.

Objective: To determine the pharmacokinetics of long-term infusion of sufentanil in ICU patients.

Design And Setting: Open-label study in a surgical intensive care unit.

Patients: Ten consecutive patients without renal or hepatic failure requiring mechanical ventilation for at least 6 days.

Performance of target-controlled sufentanil infusion in obese patients.

Background: Because obesity might affect pharmacokinetic parameters, the authors evaluated the accuracy of target-controlled sufentanil infusion in morbidly obese patients using a pharmacokinetic model usually applied to a normal-weight population.

Methods: Target-controlled propofol and sufentanil coinfusions were administered to 11 morbidly obese patients (body mass index: 45.0 +/- 6.