Vasopressor Therapy

Vasopressor therapy is treatment with a vasopressor, also called an antihypotensive, an agent that raises blood pressure by constricting blood vessels and thereby increasing systemic vascular resistance; this is distinct from an inotrope, which raises blood pressure by increasing the force of cardiac contraction instead, though some drugs, such as dopamine and dobutamine, act both ways. When low blood pressure is caused by blood loss, restoring circulating volume with plasma-substituting or blood-product solutions can raise blood pressure without any direct vasopressor activity, and blood products are used only when reduced oxygen-carrying capacity or coagulopathy is also present rather than for volume expansion alone.