Assessment of vena cava inferior diameter with ultrasonography in patients undergoing spinal anesthesia and evaluation of postoperative hypotension

All patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery between June-December 2016 were considered in the study at Adnan Menderes University Training and Research Hospital operating room. Patients who recorded demographic data in the preoperative patient preparation room were examined by ultrasonography in 3 different groups according to VCI diameters. Patients were classified as Group I (0-1,5cm), Group II (1,5-2cm), Group III (2-2,5cm) according to the measurement results. All patients then underwent spinal anesthesia in the operating room. Non-invasive systolic, diastolic, mean blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation values at intervention time and 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 minutes after spinal intervention were recorded. Block level control was performed 3 min after spinal anesthesia was applied. Complications and applied drugs were recorded during the study. In each group, consecutive follow-ups showed a decrease of more than 20 % in systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure values between 0 and 5 min in Group I and statistically significant. When the other two groups were compared within themselves, it was determined that there was a statistically significant decrease in systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure values between 0 and 5 min, but this ratio was found to be below 20 %. Compared with all three groups, in group 1, systolic and mean blood pressures were statistically higher at 0.min and statistically lower at 10, 15, 20 and 25 min. At 30 minutes, there was a statistically significant decrease in systolic blood pressure only. Complications occur after spinal anesthesia, vasopressor requirement, the average age, co-morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes was determined to be a higher incidence at group 1. There was no statistically significant change in heart rate and oxygen saturation values after spinal intervention. We believe that VCI diameter measurements are an important predictor of hypotension after spinal anesthesia and that further studies should be done in this regard