Abstract / Summary
Abstract BACKGROUND: Post induction hypotension is a common side effect of general anaesthesia with consequences of organ hypoperfusion and ischemia. Patients are at risk of developing hypotension immediately after induction of general anaesthesia due to the cardiovascular depressant and vasodilatory effects of commonly used anesthetic agents and pre-existing hypovolemia owing to nil per oral status of patients undergoing elective surgeries. IVC to aorta ratio using point-of-care ultrasound is being studied as a newer method for its ability to predict post induction hypotension with various cut-off values. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and thirty-two ASA PS I and II patients scheduled for elective surgeries under general anaesthesia with endotracheal intubation were enrolled in this observational study from November 2024 to May 2025. After approval from IRC, written informed consent was obtained from all included patients. In the preoperative room, ultrasound was used to obtain IVC and aorta diameter and then IVC to aorta ratio (IVC/Aorta) was calculated. Blood pressure parameters were recorded at 5, 10 and 15 minutes post induction of general anaesthesia. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and subsequently exported to SPSS, version 26 for analysis. RESULTS: Among 132 patients, 72 patients (54.54%) had post induction hypotension. ROC curve analysis for caval/aorta diameter index in predicting post induction hypotension demonstrated an AUC of 0.713 for a cut off value of ≤0.81500. The flow of participants through the study is shown in Fig. 5. CONCLUSION: Post induction hypotension is common with an incidence of 54.54% in ASA PS I and II patients undergoing surgery under general anaesthesia and caval/aorta diameter index can predict hypotension. TRIAL REGISTRATION The trial was registered with the Institutional Review Committee of the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal on the 06 th of September, 2024. The registration number was 172 081/082 Clinical trial number: Not applicable