Oral midodrine for prophylaxis against post-spinal anesthesia hypotension during hip arthroplasty in elderly...

We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of midodrine as a prophylaxis against post-spinal hypotension in elderly patients undergoing hip arthroplasty.

This randomized controlled trial included elderly patients undergoing hip arthroplasty under spinal anesthesia. Ninety minutes before the procedure, patients were randomized to receive either 5-mg midodrine or placebo (metoclopramide). After spinal anesthesia, mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate were monitored every 2 min for 20 min then every 5 min until the end of the procedure. Post-spinal hypotension (MAP < 80% baseline) was treated with 10 mg ephedrine. The primary outcome was intraoperative ephedrine consumption. Secondary outcomes were the incidence of post-spinal hypotension, bradycardia, and hypertension (MAP increased by > 20% of the baseline reading).

We analyzed 29 patients in the midodrine group and 27 in the control group. The intraoperative ephedrine consumption was lower in the midodrine group than in the control group (median [quartiles]: 10 [0, 30] mg versus 30 [20, 43] mg, respectively, P-value: 0.002); and the incidence of intraoperative hypotension was lower in the midodrine group than that in the control group. The incidence of hypertension and bradycardia were comparable between the two groups.

The use of 5 mg oral midodrine decreased the vasopressor requirements and incidence of hypotension after spinal anesthesia for hip surgery in elderly patients.

This study was registered on September 22, 2022 at clinicaltrials.gov registry, NCT05548985, URL: https://classic.

gov/ct2/show/NCT05548985 .