Combined azaperone and metomidate anaesthesia in liver transplantation in the pig

Combined azaperone and metomidate anaesthesia has been used in 86 surgical procedures on 84 piglets, either as such or deepened and prolonged. 51 animals were sacrificed at the end of the procedure as planned before. The anesthesia allowed the performance of various short and long operations. Out of the 33 remaining pigs, submitted to 35 operations, 4 died during the procedure of a technical fault; 2 did not recover from a deep hypothermia (below 10 degrees C); 1 died from the hepatic coma induced through the operative procedure. The other 26 awoke and recovered spontaneous breathing within 1-4 h following the type of anaesthesia and operating procedure they had submitted, which dured from 15 to 330 min.