Ephedrine and propofol for induction of general anesthesia can decrease intraoperative hypothermia in patients undergoing plastic and breast surgery: a randomized, controlled trial
Article Category: Brief communication (Original)
Published Online: Jan 31, 2017
Page range: 379 - 385
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0903.407
Keywords
© 2015 Thanist Pravitharangul, Wirakorn Koopinpaitoon, Rungruedee Kraisen, Rojnarin Komonhirun
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Background
Ephedrine has vasoconstrictive and mild β-adrenergic agonist effects that may be able to decrease intraoperative core temperature hypothermia. However, its efficacy is still unclear.
Objectives
To determine the efficacy of ephedrine given during induction to maintain core temperature during plastic and breast surgery under general anesthesia.
Materials and Methods
A prospective, randomized, double-blinded study was approved by our Institutional Review Board and registered with the Thai Clinical Trials Registry as TCTR20141212002. We randomly assigned 30 patients to receive mixture of propofol and ephedrine (ephedrine group, n = 15) or a mixture of propofol and normal saline (control group, n = 15) for induction of general anesthesia. The tympanic temperature (core temperature before intubation), esophageal temperature (core temperature after intubation), index temperature (peripheral temperature), systolic and diastolic blood pressure were compared between groups and baselines.
Results
During surgery, patients in ephedrine group showed better esophageal temperature maintenance than those in the control group. Whereas systolic blood pressure in ephedrine group was significantly higher than in the control group in early phase after induction.
Conclusions
A bolus dose of ephedrine given during induction can decrease core temperature loss during plastic and breast surgery under general anesthesia.