Acta anaesthesiologica Belgica
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Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jun 1985
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialHormonal response in thoracic surgery. Effects of high-dose fentanyl anesthesia, compared to halothane anesthesia.
Thirty two patients undergoing cardiac thoracic surgery were randomly assigned into two groups: Patients of the first group received high dose fentanyl (50 micrograms/kg) at the induction and patients of the second group received halothane for the maintenance of anesthesia. All patients received N2O:O2 and pancuronium for muscle relaxation. Surgical stress, as evaluated by changes in blood pressure, heart rate, plasma cortisol and glucose levels, appeared in the halothane group but not in the fentanyl group. ⋯ Nevertheless two of these patients presented hypoventilation requiring intubation and naloxone administration. High dose fentanyl anesthesia may prove to be very useful in non cardiac thoracic surgery as it protects the patient from the stress of the operation and assures prolonged postoperative analgesia. When this technique is used one must always anticipate postoperative mechanical ventilation.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jun 1985
Effect of nitrous oxide on serum vitamin-B12 levels under surgical anesthesia.
To evaluate the effect of nitrous oxide (66%) as used in surgical anesthesia on serum vitamin-B12 levels, 27 patients were studied undergoing operations longer than 2 hours. In addition a group of 10 patients was given oxygen/halothane for comparison. ⋯ There was also no macrocytosis or hypersegmentation of neutrophils on blood slides taken concomitantly with blood samples in both groups. In view of the rapid recovery of vitamin levels and the fact that, in spite of the significant reductions caused by nitrous oxide none of the individual values decreased below normal, it is suggested that the effect of nitrous oxide as used in surgical anesthesia may be considered insignificant in patients with normal vitamin-B12 values.