Journal of clinical anesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A controlled trial of esmolol for the induction of deliberate hypotension.
Twenty-five patients scheduled for lumbar fusion or cerebrovascular surgery were enrolled in an open label treatment controlled study comparing blood pressure and heart rate responses during deliberate hypotension with either esmolol or nitroprusside during steady-state N2O/isoflurane anesthesia. The first 5 patients were empirically assigned to the esmolol group; the remaining 20 patients were randomized to receive either esmolol or nitroprusside. The target of 15% reduction in mean arterial pressure (MAP) from baseline determined during anesthesia was attained with esmolol 195 +/- 10 micrograms/kg/min (mean +/- SEM) for the group (n = 15) or nitroprusside 1.9 +/- 0.3 micrograms/kg/min for the nitroprusside group (n = 10). ⋯ No patient in either group suffered any adverse reaction to hypotension. It is concluded that in moderate doses esmolol is a safe and effective hypotensive agent during isoflurane anesthesia, with no reflex tachycardia and no significant potential for rebound hypertension. A MAP reduction of 30% from preanesthesia baseline was readily obtained with this combination.