Effect of Phenylephrine Versus Norepinephrine on Venous Return
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2020-06-15
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Induction of general anesthesia often induces a decrease in the mean arterial blood pressure
(MAP) caused by arterial and venous dilatation. Fluid administration is conventionally used
to increase the patient's total blood volume, but is often associated with multiple adverse
events such as postoperative edema.
Arterial hypotension can also be treated by vasopressor agents such as norepinephrine and
phenylephrine which mainly increase the blood pressure by arterial vasoconstriction.
Compared to phenylephrine, norepinephrine has a shorter half-life (2 - 3 minutes) and
improves the MAP by increase in cardiac contractility. In a recent study at our department it
was demonstrated that besides arterial vasoconstriction, phenylephrine also improves venous
return and cardiac output by venous vasoconstriction.
The aim of this study is to compare the hemodynamic effects of both vasopressor agents in
patients undergoing deep inferior epigastric perforators (DIEP) flap surgery. If significant
differences between both agents are demonstrated, these findings can provide an important
basis for future recommendations.