Table 1 Characteristics of the eight included studies
Author | Study design | Surgery type | Study country& centre | Intervention & comparators | Time of administration | Anesthesia induction | Doses | Sample size | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D | C | C | D | |||||||
Ramlan et al. [12] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded, parallel-group RCT | Ophthalmic | Indonesia (February to May 2019) | Intranasal dexmedetomidine vs midazolam | Preoperatively | 6–8% sevoflurane | 1 mcg kg−1 | 0.1 mg kg−1 | 32 | 32 |
Sen et al. [13] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded, parallel-group RCT | Cataract | India | Intranasal midazolam + dexmedetomidine vs midazolam + normal saline | 30–45 min before the surgery | 8% sevoflurane | 1 µg kg−1 + 0.25 mg kg−1 oral midazolam | 0.5 mg kg−1 + 0.025 mg kg−1 saline | 40 | 40 |
Chu et al. [14] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded, parallel-group RCT | Strabismus | China (April to October 2020) | Intranasal dexmedetomidine vs no medication | 10 min before separation from parents until anaesthesia induction | 8% sevoflurane | 2 µg kg−1 | No medcation | 70 | 70 |
Elghamry and Elkeblawy [15] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded RCT | Strabismus | Egypt (November 2019 to April 2020) | Intravenous dexmedetomidine vs placebo | 10 min before the end of the surgery | Sevoflurane | 0.3 μg kg−1 | 0.9% saline | 33 | 34 |
Oriby and Elrashidy [16] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded, pparallel-groupRCT | Strabismus | Qatar (October 2018 to January 2020) | Intravenous dexmedetomidine vs propofol + remifentanil | Preoperatively | 8% sevoflurane | 1 mcg kg−1 | 4 mg kg−1 h−1 propofol + 0.03 mcg kg−1 min−1 remifentanil infusion | 42 | 42 |
Jangra et al. [17] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded, parallel-group RCT | Ophthalmic | India (April to October 2021) | Intranasal dexmedetomidine vs oral melatoni | 45 min before the surgery | Sevoflurane 5 to 8% | 2 g kg−1 | 0.5 mg kg−1 | 60 | 60 |
Li et al. [18] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded RCT | Strabismus | China (December 2018 to March 2019) | Intravenous dexmedetomidine vs placebo | Postoperatively | 2 mg/kg propofol | 0.3 μg. kg−1 | 0.9% saline | 41 | 40 |
Yao et al. [19] | Prospective single-centre, double-blinded, parallel-group RCT | Strabismus | China (September 2013 to August 2014) | Intranasal dexmedetomidine vs placebo | 45 min before the surgery | 5% sevoflurane | 2 mg kg−1 | 0.9% saline | 51 | 52 |