Cerebral blood flow under enflurane anesthesia

Cerebral blood flow was measured, under controlled conditions of stable ventilation and PaCO2, in 11 patients suffering from cerebro-vascular lesions. Comparing the results under N2O-enflurane 1% anesthesia with those under N2O-fentanyl anesthesia shows an average 8.4% decrease of blood flow. In 5 cases, a third measurement was performed under N2O-enflurane 2% anesthesia. This caused an average 8.5% complementary decrease. Whereas most inhalational anesthetic agents produce an increase of cerebral blood flow, this is not observed with enflurane, the tendency rather being towards a decrease.