Vasoactive agents include the following: inotropes; vasopressors; inodilators and some that don't fit like dopamine... Objectives List components of physiology involved in blood pressure Review terminology related to vasoactive medications Discuss the difference between an agonist and an antagonist Review catecholamine receptor basics Define shock and how it may be identified A vasoactive substance is an endogenous agent or pharmaceutical drug that has the effect of either increasing or decreasing blood pressure and/or heart rate through its vasoactivity, that is, vascular activity (effect on blood vessels). Learn how vasoactive drips like vasopressors and inotropes work, why they’re used in critical care, and how clinicians monitor them safely.

Understanding the Context

A thorough understanding of vasoactive drugs is mandatory for any clinician managing patients in shock. There are different types of shock, but the initial therapy is often generic. This page titled 1.9: Vasoactive Drugs I is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Carl Rosow, David Standaert, and Gary Strichartz (MIT OpenCourseWare) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform. The meaning of VASOACTIVE is affecting the blood vessels especially in respect to the degree of their relaxation or contraction.

Key Insights

There was a trend towards reduced mortality among patients treated with norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is often used as a “broad-spectrum” vasoactive agent for undifferentiated hypotensive patients.