Retrospective Evaluation of the Effect of Prophylactic Norepinephrine Infusion on Preventing Spinal Anesthesia Induced Hypotension During Cesarean Section Profilaktik Norepinefrin İnfüzyonunun Sezaryenlerde Spinal Anesteziye Bağlı Hipotansiyonu Önlemedeki Etkisinin Retrospektif Değerlendirilmesi

Objective: Maternal hypotension after spinal anesthesia is a frequent and important deleterious complication that requires treatment. Current study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of prophylactically administered norepinephrine infusion protocol in preventing spinal anesthesia induced hypotension in elective cesarean deliveries performed in our institue between November 2017 and April 2018. Methods: Patients underwent cesarean section were evaluated retrospectively. They were divided into two groups as the norepinephrine group (n=32) and the control group (n=79), according to the treatment methods applied prophylactically to prevent spinal-induced hypotension. Patient demographics, 1 st and 5 th minutes APGAR scores, umbilical cord blood gas pH, newborn weight, overall amount of ephedrine used, adverse conditions such as maternal nausea and vomiting, systolic blood pressure, and heart rate were collected from the anesthesia records and medical electronic systems. Results: Total of 111 patients were included in the analysis. There was no significant difference between umbilical artery pH values. The first (7.01 vs 7.34) minute mean APGAR scores in control group were significantly lower (p=0.008). The incidence of hypotension before delivery was lower in the norepinephrine group (40.6%) compared to the control group (74.7%) (p<0.05). The mean total dose of ephedrine was greater in the control group (13.67 vs 6.09 mg, p<0.01). Conclusion: We believe that prophylactic norepinephrine infusion is effective in preventing spinal-induced hypotension for cesarean deliveries.