Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society 2014 Consensus Statement: Pharmacotherapies in Cardiac Critical Care: Sedation, Analgesia and Muscle Relaxant.

Objective: This article reviews pharmacotherapies currently available to manage sedation, analgesia, and neuromuscular blockade for pediatric cardiac critical patients.

Data Sources: The knowledge base of an expert panel of pharmacists, cardiac anesthesiologists, and a cardiac critical care physician involved in the care of pediatric cardiac critical patients was combined with a comprehensive search of the medical literature to generate the data source.

Study Selection: The panel examined all studies relevant to management of sedation, analgesia, and neuromuscular blockade in pediatric cardiac critical patients.

Data Extraction: Each member of the panel was assigned a specific subset of the studies relevant to their particular area of expertise (pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and clinical care) to review and analyze.

Data Synthesis: The panel members each crafted a comprehensive summary of the literature relevant to their area of expertise. The panel, as a whole, then collaborated to cohesively summarize all the available, relevant literature.

Conclusions: In the cardiac ICU, management of the cardiac patient requires an individualized sedative and analgesic strategy that maintains hemodynamic stability. Multiple pharmacological therapies exist to achieve these goals and should be selected based on the patient's underlying physiology, hemodynamic vulnerabilities, desired level of sedation and analgesia, and the projected short- or long-term recovery trajectory.