Use of dexmedetomidine in a pediatric heart transplant patient.

Dexmedetomidine is a new sedative and analgesic agent that has a unique property of lack of respiratory depression. We describe a pediatric case in which the use of dexmedetomidine enabled us to successfully extubate a 12-year-old heart transplant patient with acute pneumonia after several failed attempts with the use of more conventional sedation.