Sedation and analgesia

This chapter discusses the role of sedative and analgesic drugs in the management of critically ill patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI),1 providing an overview of the main benefits from using sedatives on the brain metabolism in the intensive care unit (ICU). The main open questions remain whether to sedate and for how long. The use of sedatives should be carefully evaluated to prevent the patient from running into so-called oversedation. Deep sedation is in fact associated with increased mortality, prolonged mechanical ventilation, and hospitalization. In this context, TBI patients appear to be an exception requiring, in the more severe cases, deep sedation as neuroprotective strategy to lower intracranial pressure (ICP). An overview of the main sedatives and analgesics used in ICU is presented