Potential risk factors for dexmedetomidine withdrawal seizures in infants after surgery for congenital heart disease.

Purpose: Few studies are available on withdrawal seizures about dexmedetomidine (DEX). Thus, we retrospectively evaluated the incidence of withdrawal seizures after discontinuation of DEX and examined potential risk factors in infants after cardiovascular surgery.

Methods: The medical records of 142 infants who had undergone cardiovascular surgery between April 2010 and November 2013 were examined. Clinical characteristics and usage of DEX were analyzed. DEX withdrawal seizures were evaluated using Withdrawal Assessment Tool - version 1 (WAT-1). All the patients and controls were categorized according to DEX discontinuation strategy, which was either gradual or abrupt.

Results: Nine patients (6.3%) developed generalized clonic or generalized tonic-clonic seizures accompanied by preceding fever of >38°C approximately four to eight hours following the discontinuation of DEX, and were clinically diagnosed as DEX withdrawal seizures with a median WAT-1 score of 3. Clinical characteristics and operative data were similar, but median cumulative dose and maximum temperature after discontinuation of DEX were significantly higher in infants with withdrawal seizures than in those without (P=0.007 and P<0.001, respectively). Eight of the 9 patients with withdrawal seizures (88.9%) and 20 of the 133 patients (15.0%) with no withdrawal seizures had discontinued DEX abruptly (P<0.001). Cumulative dose and abrupt discontinuation of DEX were significantly associated with DEX withdrawal seizures in infants after cardiovascular surgery (R=0.619, P=0.004).

Conclusions: Physicians should be aware that infants who received DEX after cardiovascular surgery had potential to cause withdrawal seizures accompanied by preceding pyrexia after discontinuation of DEX. Higher cumulative dose and abrupt discontinuation of DEX appears to increase the risk for these withdrawal seizures.