OR in the News

Laou E, Papagiannakis N, Michou A, Ntalarizou N, Ragias D, Angelopoulou Z, Sessler DI, Chalkias A: Association between mean arterial pressure and sublingual microcirculation during major non-cardiac surgery: Post hoc analysis of a prospective cohort. Microcirculation 2023; 30: e12804

March 7, 2023

Objective:
To test the hypothesis that there is an association between mean arterial pressure (MAP) and sublingual perfusion during major surgery, and perhaps an iden- tifiable harm threshold.
Methods:
This post hoc analysis of a prospective cohort included patients who had elective major non-cardiac surgery with a duration of ≥2 h under general anesthesia. We assessed sublingual microcirculation every 30 min using SDF+ imaging and deter- mined the De Backer score, Consensus Proportion of Perfused Vessels (Consensus PPV), and the Consensus PPV (small). Our primary outcome was the relationship be- tween MAP and sublingual perfusion which was evaluated with linear mixed effects modeling.
Results:
A total of 100 patients were included, with MAP ranging between 65 mmHg and 120 mmHg during anesthesia and surgery. Over a range of intraoperative MAPs between 65 and 120 mmHg, there were no meaningful associations between blood pressure and various measures of sublingual perfusion. There were also no meaning- ful changes in microcirculatory flow over 4.5 h of surgery. Conclusions: In patients having elective major non-cardiac surgery with general anes- thesia, sublingual microcirculation is well maintained when MAP ranges between 65 and 120 mmHg. It remains possible that sublingual perfusion will be a useful marker of tissue perfusion when MAP is lower than 65 mmHg.
KEY WORDS
anesthesia, complications, mean arterial pressure, non-cardiac surgery, sublingual microcirculation.