Acute perioperative changes in arterial pressure occur frequently, particularly in patients with cardiovascular disease or those receiving vasoactive medications, or in relation to certain cardiovascular surgical procedures. Both hypo- and hypertension are common in patients undergoing carotid surgery because of unique patho-physiological and surgical factors. Poor arterial pressure control is associated with increased morbidity and mortality after carotid endarterectomy, but good control of arterial pressure is often difficult to achieve in practice. New guidelines have emphasized the benefits of performing carotid surgery urgently in patients with acute neurological symptoms. This strategy may make perioperative arterial pressure control more challenging. However, few specific data are available to guide individual drug therapy. The incidence, implications, and aetiology of haemodynamic instability associated with carotid surgery are reviewed, and some recommendations made for its management. Close monitoring and titration of therapy are probably the most important considerations rather than specific choice of agents.

Summary Regional anaesthesia is a popular choice for patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Neurological function is easily assessed during carotid cross-clamping; haemodynamic control is predictable; and hospital stay is consistently shorter compared with general anaesthesia (GA). Despite these purported benefits, mortality and stroke rates associated with CEA remain around 5% for both regional anaesthesia and GA. Regional anaesthetic techniques for CEA have improved with improved methods of location of peripheral nerves including nerve stimulators and ultrasound together with a modification in the classification of cervical plexus blocks. There have also been improvements in local anaesthetic, sedative, and arterial pressure-controlling drugs in patients undergoing CEA, together with advances in the management of patients who develop neurological deficit after carotid cross-clamping. In the UK, published national guidelines now require the time between the patient's presenting neurological event and definitive treatment to 1 week or less. This has implications for the ability of vascular centres to provide specialized vascular anaesthetists familiar with regional anaesthetic techniques for CEA. Providing effective regional anaesthesia for CEA is an important component in the armamentarium of techniques for the vascular anaesthetist in 2014.

In male New Zealand white rabbits, it was shown that oxytocin but not vasopressin concentrations in plasma were markedly raised after ejaculation. In male Wistar rats, oxytocin infused into the internal carotid artery reduced the number of intromissions made before ejaculation but had no other significant effect. Infusion of oxytocin into the third ventricle increased the latencies to the first mount and intromission and lengthened post-ejaculatory refractory periods. It is suggested that oxytocin released into the periphery during coitus, while not essentially involved in ejaculation, may exert effects on the genital periphery. Behavioural effects of centrally administered oxytocin suggest that it may play a role in the neural mechanisms underlying post-ejaculatory refractoriness.

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