Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 16, 235-240, Copyright © 1969 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

A Comparison of Halothane and Neuroleptanaesthesia for Disc Surgery: Haemodynamic and Metabolic Studies

¹ University of Western Ontario, and Department of Anaesthesia, Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario

Cardiac output determinations were carried out on 44 unselected patients before, during, and after spinal surgery. Substantial changes were recorded in the course of each operation but there were no significant differences between two treatment groups receiving either halothane or neuroleptanaesthesia (Innovar®).

In 17 of the same patients CO₂ output and O₂ uptake studies were also carried out. These indicate that while CO₂ output remains close to the resting normal, O₂ uptake from the superior vena cava bed is significantly more reduced with halothane than with nla. It follows that in other areas of the organism the reverse must hold true.

On discharge from the recovery room, the mean cardiac index was 4.3 ± 0.25 L/m²/min. This value underlines the need for cardiac reserve or for the support of vital functions in the immediate postanaesthetic period.

Note:
From the Departments of Anaesthesia and Neurosurgery, Notre-Dame Hospital, Montreal. Presented in part to a panel on anaesthesia in neurosurgery during the Fourth World Congress of Anaesthesiologists, London, September 1968.