Investigation of electrocardiographic and blood pressure parameters during restorative dentistry procedure under local anesthesia with and without vasoconstrictor in coronary artery disease patients

We enrolled 62 patients with positive exercise stress test who presented with stable angina and were receiving drug therapy. All had a coronary angiography screening showing >70% obstruction in at least one of the main coronary arteries. The study aimed to compare electrocardiographic and blood pressure parameters during restorative dentistry procedure under local anesthesia, both with and without vasoconstrictor, in the presence of coronary artery disease. Ages ranged from 39 to 80, (mean ± SD) 58.7±8.8 years, 51 (82.3%) of them were male. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to receive 2% lidocaine local anesthesia with 1:100,000 epinephrine, the others receiving 2% lidocaine without vasoconstrictor. All the patients underwent ambulatory blood pressure and 24-hour Holter monitoring, beginning two hours ahead of the dental procedure. Recording were made during (1) baseline - 60-minute period before dental procedure began; (2) procedure - from beginning of anesthesia until the end of the procedure; and (3) subsequent 24-hour period. Analysis of variance with repeat measures showed significant diastolic and systolic blood pressure increases from baseline to the period of the procedure, in the two study groups (approximately 14 mm Hg, and 5 to 7 mm Hg, respectively); both in a separate analysis and in a comparative analysis no significant difference between them could be confirmed. Heart rate did not change in neither of the two groups. ST-segment >1 mm depression was detected in 10 (17.9%) patients; all these events occurred at least two hours after the end of the dentistry procedure. Premature supraventricular systoles and/or premature ventricular systoles in a greater number than 10/hour were seen in 17 (30.4%) patients in the 24-hours period after the procedure; during the procedure they occurred in 7 (12.5%) patients, of whom 4 (13.8%) were in the group without, and 3 (11.1%) in the group with vasoconstrictor. The Fisher's exact test revealed no difference between the groups. We concluded that there was no difference of blood pressure, heart rate, evidence of ischemia or arrhythmia episodes between the groups. Thus, the associated use of vasoconstrictor proved to be safe within the limits of this study