Injection speed of spinal anaesthesia for Caesarean delivery in Asian women and the incidence of hypotension: A randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this investigation was to determine if a slower speed of spinal anaesthesia injection would reduce the incidence of hypotension. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Tertiary level hospital in Malaysia. PATIENTS 77 patients undergoing elective Caesarean delivery. INTERVENTION Differing speeds of spinal injection. MEASUREMENTS Systolic blood pressure was assessed every minute for the first 10min and incidence of hypotension (reduction in blood pressure of >30% of baseline) was recorded. The use of vasopressor and occurrence of nausea/vomiting were also recorded. MAIN RESULTS: 36 patients in SLOW group and 41 patients in FAST group were recruited into the study. There was no significant difference in blood pressure drop of >30% (p=0.497) between the two groups. There was no difference in the amount of vasopressor used and incidence of nausea/vomiting in both groups. CONCLUSION: In our study population, there was no difference in incidence of hypotension and nausea/vomiting when spinal injection time is prolonged beyond 15s to 60s. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.govNCT02275897. Registered on 15 October 2014.