Korean J Crit Care Med.  2002 Nov;17(2):119-122.

Midodrine for the Treatment of Hypotension in a Tetraplegic Patient with Cervical Cord Injury in ICU: A case report

• Han DW
• Koh SO
• Lee YK
• Lee MW

Abstract

Cervical spinal cord injury results in significant dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system. Reduced sympathetic activity below the level of spinal cord injury is associated with low resting blood pressure,orthostatic hypotension,and reflex bradycardia.Hypotension can be treated with vasoactive agents,such as dopamine,epinephrine,norepinephrine, and phenylephine .Orally administered midodrine is an alpha adrenergic receptor agonist that increases blood pressure with vasoconstriction.Its action is fast and effective in treating hypotension in patients with spinal cord injury,and it has less severe side effects.A 70-year-old tetraplegic patient with fracture and dislocation of C6-7 after a motor vehicle accident was admitted to ICU and underwent anterior cervical intervertebral body fusion.Symptomatic hypotension following postural changes was treated with intravenous infusion of dopamine,but it was difficult to reduce the dose of dopamine without causing severe hypotension.Midodrine was prescribed and the patient was well tolerated without any adverse effect.With adequately maintained blood pressure,intravenous infusion of dopamine was successfully switched to the oral midodrine.This case suggests that the midodrine is effective for the treatment of hypotension in tetraplegic patients with spinal cord injury and enables patients to participate in early rehabilitation therapies.

Keyword

Cervical cord injury; Hypotension; ICU; Midodrine; Tetraplegia

MeSH Terms

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists
Aged
Blood Pressure
Dislocations
Dopamine
Humans
Hypotension*
Infusions, Intravenous
Midodrine*
Motor Vehicles
Quadriplegia
Reflex
Rehabilitation
Spinal Cord
Spinal Cord Injuries
Sympathetic Nervous System
Adrenergic alpha-Agonists
Dopamine
Midodrine