title: Cardiovascular and catecholamine response to surgery in brain-dead organ donors.
abstract: Eleven brain-dead organ donors were studied during surgery. Plasma levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline were measured before and after skin incision, upon sternotomy and 15, 30 and 45 min thereafter. Haemodynamic changes were measured continuously throughout the observation period. Blood pressure and heart rate increased after skin incision, remained high at sternotomy then decreased towards the end of the observation period in six of the 11 patients. Plasma catecholamines increased promptly with the onset of surgical stimuli. We conclude that surgical stress can evoke an excessive rise of plasma adrenaline and noradrenaline and thus could impair allograft function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and General Intensive Care, Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dechtyar
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Templ
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fridrich
authors.forename: F X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Lackner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001926:Brain Death / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement
chemical_list: D009638:Norepinephrine; D004837:Epinephrine