Liver transplantation surgery may lead to myocardial injury. Dexmedetomidine, a highly specific α2-adrenoeptor agonist, has sedative and analgesic properties without significant respiratory depression at the clinically approved dosage. Some investigations indicated that dexmedetomidine was able to protect the myocardium via improving the activity of Na+-K+-adenosine triphosphate enzyme and Ca2+-adenosine triphosphate, alleviating inflammation reaction and avoiding Ca2+ overload. However, the effect and the mechanism of dexmedetomidine on myocardial injury during liver transplantation remain unclear.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of dexmedetomidine on myocardial injury during liver transplantation