Blood pressure, not cardiac output, determines blood loss during induced hypotension

Cardiac output characteristically decreases during trimethaphan infusion but is well maintained or increased during sodium nitroprusside infusion. We postulated that at similar levels of mean arterial pressure, sodium nitroprusside might be associated with greater blood loss than trimethaphan due to the increase in cardiac output. We studied 20 young healthy patients scheduled for bilateral sagittal osteotomies of the mandible. Ten subjects received trimethaphan and 10 subjects received sodium nitroprusside. Using halothane (0.8% to 1%) and nitrous oxide (60%) for maintenance of anesthesia, trimethaphan or sodium nitroprusside was infused to maintain mean arterial pressure between 55 to 60 torr. Cardiac output was measured in five subjects in each group. Heart rate and cardiac output increased significantly and total peripheral resistance decreased significantly during sodium nitroprusside infusion when compared to trimethaphan infusion. There were no significant differences in duration of hypotension or in blood loss. We conclude that operative blood loss during induced hypotension is determined by mean arterial pressure, not cardiac output.