Tuesday June 20, 2006
Labetolol dose
Q: What is the usual guided dose of labetalol in hypertensive emergency ?
A; Loading dose of 0.25 mg/kg followed by 0.5 mg/kg every 15 minutes but total dose should remain less than 3.25 mg/kg.
Advantage of Labetalol:
- Action within 5 minutes and
- combined alpha and beta blocker effect
Disadvantage of Labetalol:
- It decreases both SVR (Systemic Vascular Resistance) and CO (Cardiac Output).
(From Dr. Joseph Varon's lecture "Hypertensive Emergencies in the Perioperative Cardiovascular Setting" at Hypertensive Crisis: Strategies To minimize End-Organ Damage With Focus On The Heart and Brain - symposium during Chest 2005)
