Assessment of cardiovascular alterations and catecholamines serum concentration after oral surgery in patients receiving local anesthetics with epinephrine: a randomized, blind, controlled clinical trial.

Objectives: A randomized controlled clinical trial was developed to evaluate the cardiovascular effects of local anesthetics with vasoconstrictors (LAVC) in healthy and hypertensive patients undergoing teeth extraction with lidocaine 2% with epinephrine 1:100,000.

Materials And Methods: Twenty patients were divided into control (CG - normotensive patients) and experimental groups (EG - hypertensive patients). The variables analyzed were heart rate (HR), oxygen saturation (SO2), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), serum catecholamine concentration (dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine), ventricular and supraventricular extrasystoles (VES and SVES respectively), and ST segment depression. Data was obtained in three different moments (initial, trans, and final). Blood samples were taken to measure the catecholamines, and a Holter device was used to measure data from the electrocardiogram including a 24-h postoperative evaluation period. The Mann-Whitney test was used to identify differences between the two groups, and the Friedman test with the adjusted Wilcoxon posttest was used for intragroup evaluation for repeated measures.

Results: The EG presented a lower O2S in the initial period (p = 0,001) while the sysBP showed a statistical difference for the three evaluation periods with the EG presenting the highest values. The VES was higher for the EG during the 24-h postoperative evaluation period (p = 0,041). The SVES and the serum catecholamines showed were similar between the groups. The intragroup analysis revealed significant statistical difference for the sysBP in the EG with the trans period presenting the highest measurements. The extrasystole evaluation showed that the 24-h postoperative period presented most events with only the CG not presenting statistical difference for the variable VES during this period (p = 0,112). No ST segment depression was noticed for both groups.

Conclusions: Teeth extraction with LAVC can be safely executed in hypertensive patients. Blood pressure should be monitored in these patients since the sysBP presented significant differences during the surgical procedures. Cardiac arrhythmia and the serum catecholamines concentration levels seem not to be altered by the surgical procedure. Also, serum catecholamines do not influence cardiovascular changes in this type of surgery.

Clinical Relevance: LAVC can be safely used in hypertensive patients and does not increase the risk of arrhythmias or cardiac ischemia.