Assessing the effects of dexmedetomidine and labetalol on changes in heart rate and blood pressure after laryngoscopy compared to a control group

Background: One of the objectives of a smooth laryngoscopy is to minimize hemodynamic changes. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of dexmedetomidine and labetalol on heart rate and blood pressure changes after laryngoscopy compared to a control group. Materials and Methods: This was a double-blind clinical trial conducted on 120 patients aged between 18 and 60 years, who were candidates for surgery, under general anesthesia, at Alzahra hospital in Isfahan during 2017-2018. Patients were randomly allocated to three groups of being administered dexmedetomidine or labetalol and a control group. The patient's age, weight, height, gender and clinical data including mean blood pressure (BP), heart rate, systolic BP, diastolic BP and oxygen saturation during 1, 3, 5 and 10 minutes after intubation were collected and analyzed using repeated measure analysis. Results: The average age of patients who were candidates for surgery was 42.62 +/- 1.40. 52 percent (63 patients) were male subjects. The results showed no significant difference in mean BP, diastolic BP, systolic BP or oxygen saturation (p>0.05) in the three groups. But the difference in heart rate between the three groups was statistically significant. The heart rate in the dexmedetomidine group was significantly lower than the labetalol and control groups (p=0.00). Conclusion: Results of the current study showed that using labetalol provided desirable hemodynamic stability compared to dexmedetomidine and caused less hemodynamic disturbances.