Turan A, Duncan A, Leung S, et al. - Via a randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted at six academic hospitals in the US, researchers sought to determne if dexmedetomidine lowers both the incidence of new-onset atrial fibrillation and of delirium. They screened 3,357 patients who had had cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Of these, they randomized 798 patients 1:1, stratified by site, to dexmedetomidine or normal saline placebo, either of which was administered to participants before the surgical incision at a rate of 0·1 μg/kg per h then increased to 0·2 μg/kg per h at the end of bypass, and postoperatively raised to 0·4 μg/kg per h, which was maintained until 24 h. Per findings, patients recovering from cardiac surgery did not have a lower incidence of postoperative atrial arrhythmias or delirium in correlation with receiving dexmedetomidine infusion. They emphasize not infusing dexmedetomidine to decrease atrial fibrillation or delirium in patients having cardiac surgery.