Postoperative Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction Induced by Flumazenil Administered for Remimazolam Antagonism

Abstract

Remimazolam is an ultrashort-acting benzodiazepine intravenous anesthetic characterized by rapid awakening after anesthesia. However, the method for administering remimazolam in clinical practice remains unclear. Here, we report a case of postoperative heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) after antagonizing remimazolam with flumazenil. An 82-year-old woman was scheduled to undergo lumbar laminectomy for lumbar spinal canal stenosis. Preoperative echocardiography revealed normal left ventricular systolic function, left atrial enlargement, and impaired left ventricular diastolic function. General anesthesia was induced with 10 mg/kg/h remimazolam and maintained with 0.8 mg/kg/h remimazolam intraoperatively. Before extubation, a total of 1.0 mg of flumazenil was administered. After extubation, the patient developed pulmonary edema due to HFpEF. When remimazolam is administered in elderly patients with cardiac dysfunction, the maintenance dose should be customized according to the patient’s general condition to minimize the dosage of flumazenil.

Remimazolam and serious adverse events

“…While the loss of consciousness was faster after propofol versus remimazolam induction (46 versus 66 s), blood pressure was significantly lower after propofol induction. 103 Japan VATS Anaesthesia 1 100% Anaphylaxis Hong 9 Korea Arthroscopy Anaesthesia 1 0% Horikoshi 10 Japan Laparoscopy Anaesthesia 1 100% Delayed emergence Huang 11 China LMA insertion Anaesthesia NA 0% Hwang 12 Korea Teratoma resection Anaesthesia 2 0% Kawasaki 13 Japan Liver transplantation Anaesthesia 1 0% Kida 14 Japan CABG Anaesthesia 1 100% Tolerance Kim 107 Korea All kinds Anaesthesia 5 100% Anaphylactoid shock Kim 15 Korea THA Anaesthesia 1 100% Psychogenic coma Kim 16 Korea Laparotomy Anaesthesia 1 0% Kitaura 17 Japan TMVR Anaesthesia 1 0% Koh 18 Japan Spine Anaesthesia 1 100% Heart failure Lee 19 Korea RALP Anaesthesia 1 0% Liu 110 China RALP Anaesthesia 1 100% Precipitation Matsumoto 20 Japan Liver transplantation Anaesthesia 1 0% Matsuo 111 Japan Orthopaedic Anaesthesia 1 100% Precipitation Nakayama 21 Japan Minor orthopaedic Anaesthesia 2 0% Onoda 22 Japan Laparoscopy Anaesthesia 1 0% Saito 23 Japan Cardiac Anaesthesia 1 100% Hypotension Sasaki 112 Japan Dental Anaesthesia 1 100% Precipitation Sato 24 Japan Trepanation Anaesthesia 1 0% Sato 25 Japan Cardiac Anaesthesia 1 100% Hypertension Singal 102 USA Endoscopy Anaesthesia 1 100% Delayed emergence Suzuki 26 Japan ENT Anaesthesia 1 100% Delayed emergence Takemori 27 Japan RALP Anaesthesia 1 100% Delayed emergence Tsurumi 104 Japan Minor orthopaedic Anaesthesia 1 100% Anaphylaxis Uchida 28 Japan ENT Anaesthesia 1 100% Delayed emergence Uchida 29 Japan TEVAR Anaesthesia 1 100% Delayed emergence Uchida 106 Japan Skin graft; laparoscopy Anaesthesia 2 100% Anaphylaxis Yamada 30 Japan Neurosurgery Anaesthesia 3 0% Yamadori 31 Japan Laparotomy Anaesthesia 1 0% Yamamoto …”