Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 34, 9-13, Copyright © 1987 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

ARTICLES

Effect of bumetanide in capillary permeability pulmonary oedema

J Ali and K Duke

To determine if bumetanide, like furosemide, improves shunt through pulmonary vasoactivity, 20 dogs with unilobar oleic acid pulmonary oedema were studied. Fractional perfusion and intrapulmonary shunt of the oedematous lobe were measured at: baseline, 1 1/2 hours after oleic acid infusion, 15 minutes later after either 0.1 mg X kg-1 of bumetanide in ten dogs (Bumetanide Group) or without bumetanide in ten dogs (Control Group), and 2 1/2 hours after the oleic acid, the bumetanide being administered immediately after the 1 1/2 hours post-oleic acid measurements. Lobar shunts for the Bumetanide Group were: 9.3 +/- 4.0, 54.3 +/- 13.6, 54.7 +/- 13.6, 38.6 +/- 12.0 per cent and for Controls: 8.7 +/- 1.6, 45.1 +/- 8.8, 48.3 +/- 7.8, 70.4 +/- 6.2 per cent. Fractional perfusions of the oedematous lobe were: 29.9 +/- 1, 14.7 +/- 1.1, 14.6 +/- 0.7, 19.3 +/- 1.9 per cent in the Bumetanide Group and 28.6 +/- 2.1, 14.2 +/- 1.1, 14.2 +/- 1.5, and 9.9 +/- 1.1 per cent in Controls. Oedema (wet to body weight ratio) was less (p less than 0.05) in the contralateral lobe (2.5 +/- 0.2 vs. 2.9 +/- 0.3) and the oedematous lobe (4.7 +/- 0.4 vs 6.0 +/- 0.5) after bumetanide-induced diuresis. We conclude that bumetanide decreases shunt by decreasing oedema and not through pulmonary vasoactivity.