To observe the safety and feasibility of combined administration of dexmedetomidine with fexmedetomidine in alleviating emergence agitation during recovery from pediatric laparoscopic surgery.

Sixty 2-10-year-old children who underwent high ligation of the processus vaginalis or herniorrhaphy at the People′s Hospital of Wuxi Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University from October 2015 to December 2016 were randomly divided into three groups (n=20 each). Before anesthesia induction, the patients were intravenously injected with fexmedetomidine 1 mg/kg (group F), dexmedetomidine 0.5 μg/kg plus fexmedetomidine 1 mg/kg (group FD), or normal saline (group C). Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded before extubation (T₀), at extubation (T₁), and 5 min after extubation (T₂). During the time course of recovery and extubation, respiratory events and psychomotor agitation were recorded.

Compared with group C, MAP and HR at T₀, T₁, and T₂ in group FD, and MAP and HR at T₂ in group F were significantly decreased (P<0.05). Compared with group F, MAP and HR at T₂ in group FD were significantly decreased (P<0.05). The incidence rates of respiratory events and psychomotor agitation in group FD were significantly lower than those in other groups (P<0.05).

Dexmedetomidine combined with dexmedetomidine can effectively prevent psychomotor agitation during recovery from pediatric laparoscopic surgery and improve the security, without prolonging the recovery and extubation time.