Can careful dosing of a sedative lower low blood pressure in older surgery patients?

Elderly patients are frequently burdened with age-associated comorbidities and frailty, accompanied by physiological changes such as vascular stiffening, cardiac dysfunction, and impaired autonomic regulation. These factors not only increase the risk of adverse perioperative outcomes but also heighten sensitivity to anesthetic agents, making elderly patients particularly susceptible to anesthesia-related complications, especially hypotension. Consequently, optimizing anesthesia strategies for this high-risk population has become a critical goal in perioperative management.

Titrated anesthesia, which individualizes anesthetic drug delivery based on patient response to achieve predefined endpoints, offers a potential approach to mitigating anesthetic risks. Ciprofol, a novel intravenous anesthetic, has been associated with less hemodynamic suppression compared with traditional agents; however, higher single doses may still predispose patients to hypotension. Remifentanil, an ultra-short-acting opioid, exerts significant cardiovascular depressive effects, further contributing to perioperative hypotension.

It is hypothesized that titrated administration of anesthetic agents during both the induction and maintenance phases, compared with conventional fixed-dose protocols, may reduce the incidence of perioperative hypotension in elderly patients.