HYPOTENSION associated with spinal anesthesia remains a difficult problem despite the variety of drugs available for its prophylaxis and treatment. Spinal anesthesia becomes safer as the incidence of hypotension associated with it is lowered. For this reason there is a continuous effort by pharmacologists and chemists to find the perfect vasopressor for use with it.
Since early in 1949 we have been routinely using one of these new drugs with spinal anesthesia at the Philadelphia General Hospital. Up to this time, we have used this drug (methoxamine)1 in more than 2,500 cases. The first 500 of these cases have been analyzed statistically and comparison made with established drugs used in the prevention and treatment of hypotension associated with spinal anesthesia. The results in this group were compared with those in three groups of 150 patients each in which d-desoxyephedrine, ephedrine or oenethyl2 was used as the vasopressor. The