Urinary catecholamine excretion during gynecological laparoscopy

In 10 patients with ages ranging between 23 and 37 undergoing elective gynecological laparoscopy under pethidine-N₂O-pancuronium anesthesia, we measured excretion of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EN) per 1 mg of urine creatinine in order to evaluate the sympathetic effect of this surgical procedure. Catecholamines were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography using native fluorescence technique. During laparoscopy, we observed a significant increase in NE and EN excretion (from 73 ± 32 ng/mg·cr to 151 ± 89 ng/mg·Cr and from 24 ± 16 ng/mg·Cr to 39 ± 22 ng/mg·Cr, respectively, mean ± SD). Such increases are considered to be beneficial in maintaining arterial pressure in these cases, where considerable reduction in cardiac output caused by high intraabdominal pressure is expected.