The sitting position under general anesthesia is associated with hemodynamic instability. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of a sequential compression device (SCD) with that of elastic stockings (ES) in reducing the incidence of hypotension and other hemodynamic instability in the sitting position during shoulder arthroscopy.

Fifty-one patients undergoing shoulder arthroscopy were randomly assigned into one of three groups to receive no treatment (control group, n = 17), SCD (SCD group, n = 17) or ES (ES group, n = 17). Hemodynamic variables were measured 5 min after induction of anesthesia (baseline values), and every 1 min from 1 to 5 min after raising the patient to a 70° sitting position (T1-5) with the beach-chair.

The incidences of hypotension (proportion, 95% CI) were 12/17 (0.71, 0.47-0.87), 5/16 (0.31, 0.14-0.56) and 7/15 (0.47, 0.25-0.70) in the control, SCD and ES group, respectively. The incidence was significantly lower in the SCD group than that in the control group (P = 0.038). At 1 min after sitting position, mean arterial pressure in the control group was significantly lower than that in the SCD group and it was significantly decreased from the baseline value.

SCD could significantly reduce the incidence of hypotension with less hemodynamic instability in the sitting position during shoulder arthroscopy. Although the incidence of hypotension was decreased with the elastic stocking, there was no statistical significance.