Anesthesia and hypertension: the effect of clonidine on perioperative hemodynamics and isoflurane requirements

Thirty patients (ASA physical status II-III) with a history of arterial hypertension, whose blood pressure (BP) control varied from normotension to moderate hypertension (diastolic BP less than 110 mmHg), scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia, were randomly assigned to two groups. Group 1 was premedicated 90-120 min prior to induction with diazepam 0.15 mg X kg-1 po; group 2, in addition, received clonidine 5 micrograms X kg-1 po. Anesthetic depth was assessed by on-line aperiodic analysis of the electroencephalogram. Following lidocaine 1 mg X kg-1 and fentanyl 2 micrograms X kg-1 (group 1 only), anesthesia was induced with thiopental 3-4 mg X kg-1 and vecuronium 0.1 mg X kg-1 was used to facilitate endotracheal intubation. Anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane in N2O/O2 and supplemented by fentanyl. In group 2, clonidine produced a rapid preoperative control of systolic and diastolic BP from 166 +/- 32/95 +/- 14 to 136 +/- 80 +/- 11 (P less than 0.01), was more effective in blunting the reflex tachycardia associated with laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation than lidocaine-fentanyl pretreatment. It significantly reduced the intraoperative lability (coefficient of variation) of systolic (P less than 0.01) and diastolic BP and heart rate (HR) (P less than 0.05), and resulted in significantly slower HR during recovery (P less than 0.01). Anesthetic requirements for isoflurane were reduced 40% (P less than 0.01) in group 2; narcotic supplementation was also significantly reduced (P less than 0.005).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)