Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Early Use of Norepinephrine in High-risk Patients Undergoing Major Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Primary resultResult — go to the resultRelative risk 0.58 CI 0.40–0.83Authors' conclusion
Prophylactic titrated norepinephrine infusion to prevent postinduction hypotension was more effective than repeated ephedrine boluses and may reduce postoperative complications in major abdominal surgery.
Study context
- Population
- Adults older than 50 yr, ASA Physical Status II or greater, undergoing major abdominal surgery473 in ITT analysis
- Participants
- 500 participants
- Comparison
- Norepinephrine vs Ephedrine
- Primary endpoint
- Any medico-surgical complication (Clavien-Dindo score of 1 or greater)
- Follow-up
- 30 days
Methodological detailssingle-center, blinded evaluators
- Single-center
- Blinded evaluators
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Relative risk
0.58
CI 0.40–0.83
P = 0.004
Events by treatment group
Norepinephrine vs Ephedrine
RR 0.58 (CI 0.40–0.83); P = 0.004
Secondary outcomes
Cumulative episodes of intraoperative hypotension
P < 0.001
| Outcome | Ephedrine | Norepinephrine | RR (CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary complications | 31% | 17% | 0.46 (0.29–0.70) | P < 0.001 | |
| 0.20.5125Relative risk (log scale) |
Other secondary endpoints (hospital LOS, AKI, 1-month mortality, cardiovascular, neurologic, infectious complications)
- No significant differences
Original publication
Early Use of Norepinephrine in High-risk Patients Undergoing Major Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Anesthesiology. Published 4 August 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →