Ventricular arrhythmias after epinephrine injection in enflurane and in halothane anesthesia

The use of subcutaneous epinephrine during anesthesia is a common clinical practice for providing surgical hemostasis. In studies with 100 patients given either enflurane or halothane, with or without subcutaneous epinephrine, the incidence of ventricular ectopy in patients receiving halothane without epinephrine was 3 percent, while in those given epinephrine with halothane, the incidence was 7 percent. Those who received enflurane alone had no ectopic beats, while ventricular ectopy with enflurane and epinephrine resulted in an incidence of 1 percent. The authors conclude that enflurane anesthesia with concomitant administration of subcutaneous epinephrine is safe, provided the safeguards previously established for use of epinephrine with halothane are observed.