Fig 5.

The axis of diagnosis–decision-making–intervention for hypotension management. The first step is to diagnose hypotension based on both clinical experience and the available consensus.⁸ The second step is to decide to treat or not to treat hypotension, which is a complicated decision-making process that needs to take the patient's baseline condition, effects on organ perfusion, outcome evidence, and nature of the procedure. The third step is intervention if the decision is to treat hypotension. The intervention follows two approaches: one is to treat direct causes, and the other is to correct the underlying pathophysiology responsible for hypotension. These two lines of treatment approaches may sometimes overlap. ACEI, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor; ARB, angiotensin II receptor blocker.