Up-and-Down Determination of Different Crystalloid Coload Volumes on the ED 90 of Prophylactic Norepinephrine Infusion for Preventing Postspinal Anesthesia Hypotension During Cesarean Section

Abstract

Background

Fluid loading improves hemodynamic stability and reduces the incidence rate of post-spinal anesthesia hypotension when prophylactic vasopressors are administered. We investigated the impact of different crystalloid coload volumes on the 90% effective dose (ED) of prophylactic norepinephrine infusion for preventing post-spinal anesthesia hypotension in non-hypertensive patients undergoing cesarean section.

Methods

Patients were randomly allocated to receive one of the different crystalloid coload volumes (0mL/kg [0mL/kg Group], 5mL kg [5mL/kg Group], and 10mL kg [10mL/kg Group]) in combination with prophylactic norepinephrine infusion immediately after the induction of spinal anesthesia. The prophylactic norepinephrine infusion doses were determined using the up-and-down sequential allocation methodology, with an initial dose of 0.025 μg/kg/min and a gradient of 0.005 μg/kg/min. The primary endpoint was the effective dose at which 90% (ED 90) of patients responded to prophylactic norepinephrine infusion for preventing post-spinal anesthesia hypotension.

Results

The estimated effective dose of norepinephrine infusion, at which 90% (ED 90) of patients responded, was found to be 0.084 (95% CI, 0.070 to 0.86), 0.074 (95% CI, 0.059 to 0.077), and 0.063 (95% CI, 0.053 to 0.064) μg/kg/min in the three groups, respectively.

Conclusion

A crystalloid coload of 5 mL/kg or 10 mL/kg, as opposed to the groups receiving 0 mL/kg crystalloid coloads, resulted in a reduction of approximately 11.9% and 25.0%, respectively, in the ED90 of prophylactic norepinephrine infusion for preventing post-spinal anesthesia hypotension during cesarean section.

Keywords:

• crystalloid
• coload
• norepinephrine
• postspinal anesthesia hypotension
• cesarean section

Data Sharing Statement

The data that support the study findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ningxia Natural Science Foundation (No. 2022AAC03591), the Ningxia Health System Fund for Scientific Research (No. 2022-NWKY-056).