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To investigate the effects of coeliosurgery by catecholamine assays and the use of urapidil in the management of phaeochromocytoma.Prospective cohort study.Nine consecutive patients from April 1997 to April 2001.Urapidil (250 mg.j-1) was administered by continuous intravenous infusion three days before surgery and continued throughout anaesthesia. Plasma catecholamine concentrations were measured before surgery, after induction of anaesthesia, during insufflation, after adrenalectomy and in the recovery room. Haemodynamic disorders were treated by nicardipine +/- esmolol bolus doses.Creation of pneumoperitoneum and adrenal gland manipulations resulted in significant catecholamine releases associated with hypertension in five and eight patients respectively. Preventive urapidil use enabled easy control of blood pressure variations by additive antihypertensive drugs.Perioperative alpha 1 blockade by urapidil enables an effective and easy control of acute preoperative haemodynamic changes.

With the exception of cardiac surgery, the acute disturbance of the left ventricular diastole occurs mainly in the elderly. Today it represents 30 to 40% of congestive cardiac failures, however with a lower mortality than for acute systolic disturbances. Generally indicated are relaxation anomalies, proto-mesodiastolic mechanism and problems with compliance, an indicator of the pressure/volume diastolic relationship. Invasive techniques remain the standard method. Doppler echocardiography is becoming increasingly important for the assessment of diastolic function. In most cardiopathies, relaxation anomalies occur early, whereas compliance disturbances are mainly associated with advanced cardiac diseases. During anaesthesia, adverse events (auricular fibrillation, hypovolaemia) may worsen a fragile situation. Anaesthetic agents, in particular volatile agents, act on the ventricular diastole. Long-term therapy of diastolic anomalies includes agents amending left ventricular hypertrophy. Emergency therapy has not yet been systematised.