Patients with carcinoid tumors are at risk for profound intraoperative hypotension known as carcinoid crisis, which catecholamines are traditionally believed to trigger. However, data supporting this are lacking.Anesthesia records were retrospectively reviewed for carcinoid patients treated with vasopressors. Hemodynamics for those with crisis were compared between those who received β-adrenergic agonists (B-AA) versus those who did not.Among 293 consecutive operations, 58 were marked by 161 crises. There was no significant difference in the incidence of paradoxical hypotension with B-AA compared to non-B-AA (p = 0.242). The maximum percent decrease in mean arterial pressure following drug administration was significantly greater in those patients treated with non-B-AA than with B-AA (31.6% vs. 12.5%, p 0.0001). There were no differences in crisis duration (p = 0.257) or postoperative complication rate (p = 0.896).β-Adrenergic agonist use was not associated with paradoxical hypotension, prolonged carcinoid crisis, or postoperative complications in patients with intraoperative carcinoid crisis.
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