English

Abstract

Medical paradox of induced hypotension has arisen because bleeding during operative interventions has become a problem of increasing importance during the past few years. Certain surgical procedures are now so vastly extensive and that other operations have penetrated so deeply into the vital structure of the body. A number of workers, both on this continent and abroad, have suggested that one effective method of controlling either gross hemorrhage or excessive vascular ooze may be by the reduction of systemic arterial pressure. When such a deliberate hypotension is combined with proper posturing of the patient so that the operative site is superior, permitting gravitational venous drainage away from the wound to the dependent portions of the body, the technique has been called “controlled hypotension,” and has been employed to achieve a relatively ischemic operative field.