[The plasma histamine level during anesthesia induction using midazolam]

Midazolam has not yet been investigated for its possible properties as a histamine releaser. The aim of the following study was to ascertain whether histamine release follows the i.v. injection of midazolam. METHODS. Twenty patients between 18 and 58 years of age were split into two groups at random. Either 0.15 mg/kg midazolam or 0.15 ml/kg NaCl 0.9% were injected i.v. Venous blood was drawn 2 min before and 2, 5, and 10 min after each injection. The content of histamine in plasma was determined by HPLC. RESULTS. In the midazolam group, histamine levels decreased from 0.37 ng/ml to 0.29 ng/ml after 5 min (P less than 0.05). The kinetics typical of histamine release could not be observed in any of the patients. We observed a slight decrease in the blood pressure or tachycardia in 3 patients, but even in these cases there was no increase in histamine level. In the NaCl group, the histamine level decreased from 0.34 ng/ml to 0.23 ng/ml after 2 min (P less than 0.05). The hemodynamics of these patients remained unchanged. One patient had an abnormally high histamine level prior to the injection (2.33 ng/ml). CONCLUSION. Our results show that midazolam is not a histamine releaser. The relevance of 1 patient having a high baseline level of histamine remains unclear.