Objective:To study the influence of low-dose dopexamine on splanchnic oxygenation during major abdominal surgery.Design:Prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study.Setting:University hospital.Patients:Eighteen adult patients undergoing elective major abdominal surgery.Interventions:The patients received either dopexamine at 1 μg/kg/min (group A, n = 9) or 0.9% saline as control (group B, n = 9).Measurements and Results:To assess the splanchnic oxygenation, intestinal tissue PO2(PtissO2) and gastric intramucosal PCO2(PmucCO2) were measured, and the PCO2gap (PmucCO2− PaCO2) was calculated at baseline (T1) and after an infusion period of 60 mins (T2). There was no difference between the groups in the global oxygen transport parameters. Low-dose dopexamine increases PtissO2on the serosal side of the small bowel (ΔPtissO2, 17 ± 24 mm Hg in group A vs. −5 ± 10 in group B). The changes in PtissO2at the serosal side of the colon after dopexamine demonstrated a nonsignificant increase (ΔPtissO2, 7 ± 11 mm Hg in group A vs. −11 ± 23 mm Hg in group B). In both groups, the PCO2gap (group A, 6 ± 7 mm Hg [T1] and 5 ± 6 mm Hg [T2], vs. group B, 9 ± 10 mm Hg [T1] and 12 ± 10 mm Hg [T2]) remained unchanged compared with the baseline.Conclusion:It is concluded that low-dose dopexamine improves PtissO2at the serosal side of the gut, preferably at the small bowel. However, low-dose dopexamine did not improve gastric PmucCO2.