Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors increase vasoconstrictor requirements after cardiopulmonary bypass.

Preoperative use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors is common and has been associated with hypotension at separation from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). This study prospectively examined the influence of chronic preoperative ACE inhibitor use and other perioperative factors on the incidence of vasoconstrictor therapy required to maintain systolic blood pressure at more than 85 mm Hg despite a normal cardiac output after CPB in 4301 adults undergoing elective coronary artery and/or valve surgery. Hypothermic, nonpulsatile CPB and either opioid or ketamine-benzodiazepine anesthesia were common features of the operations. At least two vasoconstrictor infusions (phenylephrine, norepinephrine, or dopamine) were required for low perfusion pressure despite adequate cardiac output after CPB in 7.7% of 519 ACE-inhibited patients and 4.0% of 3782 patients not receiving ACE inhibitors (P = 0.0001). In the first 4 h after arrival in the intensive care unit, the need for vasoconstrictor infusions to treat hypotension with adequate cardiac output did not differ, although more ACE-inhibited patients (6.4%) exhibited low values of systemic vascular resistance (< 600 dyne.s.cm-5) than patients not receiving ACE inhibitors (2.8%; P = 0.0002). Logistic regression analysis identified preoperative ACE inhibitor use, congestive heart failure, poor left ventricular function, duration of CPB, reoperative surgery, age, and opioid anesthesia as independent risk factors for requiring > or = 2 vasoconstrictor infusions after CPB. No other preoperative drug therapy significantly altered this outcome.