Median Effective Dose of Remimazolam for Sedation in Elderly Patients

Currently used drugs for monitored general anesthesia include propofol, midazolam, and dexmedetomidine. Each drug has different advantages and disadvantages. Remimazolam causes a relatively small decrease in blood pressure, and it has no injection pain. In addition, remimazolam has a very short onset time, and even after the continuous infusion, the onset of remimazolam is fast, and even after continuous injection, the effect disappeared very quickly due to the short context-sensitive half time. And through continuous infusion, the patient's depth of anesthesia can be maintained constant. In addition, the short duration of action and the ability to quickly reverse the effect of flumazenil suggest that remimazolam can be used effectively under general anesthesia as well as under general anesthesia. Remimazolam can be used as a continuous infusion for general anesthesia. However, it has also been reported to be used for sedation by continuous infusion or divided intravenous infusion. However, the effective maintenance dose of remimazolam for sedation without mechanical ventilation has not been established. In addition, age might be an important factor for determining the appropriate dose of remimazolam.

In this study, we aim to identify the median effective dose of remimazolam for maintaining sedation in elderly patients undergoing lower limb surgery under spinal anesthesia.