Enhanced Perioperative Safety and Comfort During Airway-Related Surgeries and Procedures With Dexmedetomidine-A Brief Review and Clinical Practice Experience.

Dexmedetomidine, an α-2 adrenergic receptor agonist, provides analgesia, sedation, anxiolysis, sympatholysis and anesthetic-sparing effect, without inducing significant respiratory depression. Due to these properties, its clinical use is no longer limited to serving as a sedative agent in the intensive care unit. Proper airway management and the avoidance of cardiac and respiratory complications are common goals of everyday anesthesia practice. Ensuring airway safety is pivotal during the anesthesia stages of induction, maintenance and recovery. In this review, we focus on the advantages of dexmedetomidine in awake fiberoptic intubation (AFOI), diagnostic examinations and surgeries of patients with obstructed airways, and reducing emergence delirium effectively without causing further adverse events. With increasing implementation in different anesthetic scenarios, dexmedetomidine provides a favorable option to enhance patient safety and comfort.