Propranolol Infusion After Abdominal Surgery-Reply

Abstract

In Reply.— We are grateful to Hug et al for their letter, their interest, and their corroboration of the usefulness of propranolol infusions in patients after surgery. We also want to apologize for failing to cite their previous abstract (their reference 1). Comparison of their protocol with ours shows similar average infusion rates, although their doses were prescribed on a body-weight basis, and we found average doses to work as well. Administration of the usual oral propranolol dose just before surgery, in our hands, obviated the need for a bolus IV dose after surgery before the institution of the constant infusion. However, if 12 hours or more has separated the last oral dose from initiation of constant IV therapy, an IV bolus would be worthwhile, as they point out, to reach equilibrium sooner. They measured plasma propranolol levels several times each hour for four to seven hours. In the interest