الفهرس 
Maternal and Fetal PhysiologyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: spinal anesthesia is used for 95% of planned cesarean sections in the United States. It provides a fast and profound sensory and motor block. However, hypotension is a very common complication of spinal anesthesia during cesarean section, causing significant morbidity and mortality.
It could be associated with severe nausea, vomiting and even unconsciousness and pulmonary aspiration in the mother and for the baby, hypoxia, acidosis and neurological injuries may result. Aim of the work: this study aimed to compare the efficacy of ephedrine infusion versus crystalloid preloading, in reducing the incidence of hypotension during spinal anesthesia for cesarean section. Methodology: fifty patients were randomly allocated into two groups. group I (F group) patients received preloading with 15 ml/kg Ringer lactate before induction of spinal anesthesia and group II (E group) patients received IV ephedrine (5 mg in 1st minute after spinal anesthesia and 5 mg in the 2nd minute and 1 mg every minute after that for 15 minutes). Results: a statistically significant difference in the incidence of hypotension between group F (48%) and group E (24%) was seen, (p-value 0.03). Regarding side effects, the incidence of nausea and vomiting was higher in group F (20%) when compared to group E (12%), (p-value 0.23). Conclusions: we concluded that IV infusion of ephedrine after induction of spinal anesthesia was more effective than crystalloid preloading in a prevention of hypotension in parturient undergoing cesarean section and did so without causing significant tachycardia.