Anaesthetic concerns with intramyometrial vasopressin during myomectomy

Abstract

Vasopressin, a potent vasoconstrictor, has often been used intramyometrially to prevent blood loss during surgical management of uterine myomas. Various lethal complications reported with its use include bradycardia, unmeasurable blood pressure, loss of palpable peripheral pulse, marked pallor, arrhythmia, pulmonary oedema and cardiac arrest. We herein report a case of uterine myomas in which intramyometrial vasopressin-induced complications such as bradycardia, absent pulse and marked pallor were observed with very low dose and concentration (i.e. 1.5 U and 0.1 U/ml). This could be attributed to the coexistence of hypertension in our patient. Here, we discuss the anaesthetic concerns with the use of intramyometrial vasopressin and reinforce the need for dogmatic guidelines envisaging the recommended safe dose and concentrations of intramyometrial vasopressin and proper patient selection.