Objective To evaluate the effect of goal-directed fluid therapy (GDFT) guided by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) on reducing hypotension during spinal anesthesia for cesarean section. Methods A total of 128 pregnant women, aged 18-35 years, BMI ≤ 30 kg/m2, ASA physical status Ⅱ, who planning to receive selective cesarean section were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (group C) and GDFT group (group T), 64 patients in each group. In group C, the infusion rate of LR was 20 ml·kg-1·h-1 before delivery while the rate was 5 ml·kg-1·h-1 after delivery. Women in group T received an individualized fluid therapy protocol immediately after spinal anesthesia which involved infusing lactated Ringer's solution (LR) of 3 ml/kg within 3 minutes for maintaining of a stroke volume variation <10% and the infusion rate was 5 ml·kg-1·h-1 in addition to GDFT. HR, SBP, DBP, stroke volume (SV), and cardiac output (CO) were recorded at baseline (t0), 5 minutes following spinal anesthesia (t1), immediate after delivery (t2), and 15 minutes following spinal anesthesia (t3). Infusion volume, occurrence of intraoperative hypotension, dosage of norepinephrine, 24 hours postoperative blood loss and postoperative hospital stay were recorded. Results Compared with group C, the incidence of intraoperative hypotension in group T was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and the dosage of norepinephrine and intraoperative infusion in group T were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Compared with t0, SBP decreased significantly at t1, t2, and t3 in both groups (P < 0.05), SV at t1 was significantly reduced and SV was significantlyincreased at t2 in the group C (P < 0.05), CO at t2 and t3 was increased significantlyin group C, while CO at t2 was increased significantly in group T (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in maternal postoperative bleeding and hospital length of stay between the two groups. Conclusion SV-directed GDFT guided by TTE can reduce the occurrence of hypotension during spinal anesthesia for elective cesarean section, and play a certain role in maintaining the stability of maternal CO after spinal anesthesia. |