Hypotensive anaesthesia and blood loss in orthognathic surgery: a clinical study

Objectives: To find out whether hypotensive anaesthesia minimized blood loss during orthognathic surgery. Design: A prospective randomized clinical study. Subjects and Methods: 53 consecutive patients, 15-33 years old, who were to have orthognathic operations were admitted to the study. They were randomly allocated to either normotensive or hypotensive anaesthesia. Results: Median (range) blood loss/operation (ml) under hypotensive anaesthesia was 200 (90-400)ml and under normotensive anaesthesia was 350 (130-1575) ml (P = 0.01), and those for maxillary segmental osteotomy under hypotensive anaesthesia were 85 (40-240) ml and, under normotensive anaesthesia, 175 (100-190) ml (P = 0.05). Conclusion: There was pronounced reduction in blood loss during orthognathic operations done under hypotensive anaesthesia compared with those done under normotensive anaesthesia. (C) 2001 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.