EFFECTS OF VASOCONSTRICTOR ON ARTERIAL BLOOD PRESSURE DURING MINOR ORAL SURGICAL PROCEDURES IN A.K.T.H KANO

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate effect of adrenaline contained in dental local anaesthetics on
blood pressure and pulse rate of patients undergoing extractions. This was conducted in Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery department of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano amongst
consenting patients aged 18 to 55 years who are either normotensive or known controlled
hypertensive.
Simple random sampling method was adopted for the study to allocate the patients into either the
study group or the control group using balloting. Sample size of 100(50 per group) was used for
the study. The anxiety level was scored using a numerical scale. Baseline blood pressure and pulse
rate of the patients were measured 5 minutes before the local anaesthetic injection. Two percent
lignocaine with 1:80,000 epinephrine was used in the study group while two percent lignocaine
without epinephrine was used in the control group. A maximum of two cartridges was given to
each patient. Blood pressure and pulse rate were checked 5 minutes after the local anaesthetic
injection, 2 minutes after the commencement of procedure, 15 and 30 minutes after the procedure
using a precalibrated non-invasive electronic digital blood pressure monitor (EchoMax Plus
manufactured by Hubdic Co. Ltd Korea).
Data collection was done by means of interviewer-administered questionnaire and recorded into a
proforma designed for this study. Data was presented using tables, charts and graphs. Quantitative
data was summarized using means and standard deviations, while qualitative data was described
using frequencies and percentages. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for
Social Statistics Version 17.0 (SPSS Inc. Chicago, II, USA). The level of significance was
determined using paired t-test. A confidence interval of 95% was used in this study and a p-value
of less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Multivariate logistic regression was done to determine the influence of the socio-demographic
variables, anxiety level, number of anaesthetic cartridge used, and injection technique on the result
of the study.
The results of this study show that there is no statistically significant difference in SBP, DBP, and
PR between the study and control group at all intervals (p-value > 0.05) which points to a
conclusion that the optimal use of local anaesthetics containing adrenaline does not significantly
alter blood pressure in controlled hypertensive and normotensive patients.