Consequence and Prevention of Haemodynamic Stress Response during Laryngoscopy and Endotracheal Intubation with Oral Ivabradine- A Multicentric Randomised Controlled Study

Introduction: Laryngoscopy and intubation cause lots of haemodynamic changes which adversely affects the patient during the perioperative period. Various methods have been applied to reduce stress response in high risk patients. Ivabradine is a unique cardiotonic drug which reduces the heart rate without compromising blood pressure, specially in debilitating and severely ill patients. Aim: To evaluate role of oral ivabradine in attenuating the haemodynamic stress response to laryngoscopy, intubation and extubation in patients undergoing surgical procedure under General Anaesthesia (GA) and to note the side-effects and its complications, if any. Materials and Methods: A randomised controlled multicentric study was conducted in 200 American Society of Anaesthesiologists’ (ASA)-I and II patients undergoing various surgery under general anaesthesia. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: group A (Test group, n=100) received 5 mg oral ivabradine one hour before intubation, group B (Control group, n=100) received placebo. The pulse rate, Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) and Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) were recorded at intubation and 10 minutes postintubation along with at extubation and postintubation period till 10 minutes. Patients were monitored for haemodynamic changes as per the protocol. Statistics analysis was done using Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) software version 21.0. Results: Demographic findings were comparable in both groups. Heart rate (84.36±4.11 versus 114.19±12.4), SBP (120±10.5 versus 150±17.5), DBP (76.08±4.29 versus 113.2±10.6), MAP (91.3±6.7 versus 124.4±12.8) at 10 minutes postintubation decreased more in test group as compared to control group from baseline (p-value <0.005). Similarly, heart rate (84.13±2.06 versus 110.58±8.92), SBP (123.4±10.06 versus 150.8±13.1), DBP (84.08±2.02 versus 107±10.2), MAP (97.8±6.47 versus 122.06±9.7) at 10 minutes postintubation decreased significantly in test group as compared to control group from baseline (p-value <0.005). Conclusion: Oral ivabradine is a very useful cardiotonic drug which facilitates the fluctuation in heart rate during laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation