NORepinephrine-Maintaining-individuaALIZEd Blood Pressure

Managing the blood pressure preoperatively is important in high-risk patients because hypotension can lead to perioperative myocardial injury. It has been reported that a systolic pressure of less than 50-55mmHg or greater than 40% decrease can lead to cardiac complications. The mechanism of hypotension leading to postoperative myocardial injury is due to hypoperfusion and ischemic reperfusion injury.

In this randomized controlled study, the blood pressure for participants in the standardized group is maintained as follows: mean blood pressure greater than 65mmHg and systolic blood pressure less than 160mmHg. The individualized group participants' blood pressure is maintained at a target of 20% within the preoperative ward blood pressure. Anesthesia and intraoperative management are the same in both groups to target a bispectral index level of 50. In order to quantitatively measure the myocardial injury, high sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) will be measured pre- and postoperatively. A level greater than 14ng/dl has been reported to be associated with myocardial injury and mortality. The objective of this study is to show that the standardized protocol of maintaining a mean pressure greater than 65mmHg is non inferior to the individualized management in terms of postoperative myocardial injury.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients scheduled for general or urologic surgeries under general anesthesia at Seoul National University Hospital
• high-risk patients with a revised cardiac risk index of at least 2 points or more

Exclusion criteria

• severely uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥ 180mmHg or mean blood pressure ≥ 110)
• severely uncontrolled hypotension (systolic blood pressure < 80mmHg)
• arrhythmias with symptoms or use of pacemaker
• transplantation surgery
• acute or decompensated heart failure
• acute coronary syndrome
• sepsis
• end stage renal disease (GFR <30ml/min/1.73m2)
• contraindications of norepinephrine infusion