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Desflurane anaesthesia increases sister chromatid exchanges in human lymphocytes
1Department of Anaesthesiology, Erciyes University School of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey. aaynur@erciyes.edu.tr
Background:
We investigated genotoxic effects of desflurane on the frequency of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) in peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients during and after anaesthesia.
Methods:
Fifteen female patients, ASA classification I-II, aged 26-54 years, undergoing elective surgery were enroled in this study. Anaesthesia was induced by injection of thiopental 5-7 mg/kg and fentanyl 1 microg/kg. Vecuronium 0.1 mg/kg was given to facilitate tracheal intubation. Anaesthesia was maintained with desflurane 5-6% in an oxygen/air mixture (FiO(2) 0.3). N(2)O was not used for any patient. Using a heparinized syringe, venous blood was collected in patients before anaesthesia. Additional venous blood samples were taken from all patients at 60 and 120 min after the initiation of anaesthesia. Post-operative blood samples were taken and first, third, seventh and twelfth day samples were coded.
Results:
Number of SCEs per cell at 60 and 120 min were significantly higher than the number of SCEs per cell before anaesthesia. In addition, number of SCEs per cell at 1, 3 and 7th post-operative days were significantly higher than pre-operative levels (P < 0.05). There was no difference between pre-operative number of SCEs per cell and 12th post-operative day levels (P > 0.05).
Conclusion:
In the present study, because exposure to desflurane increased sister chromatid exchange in human lymphocytes in our group of patients, we conclude that this agent may be capable of producing genetic damage.
