[Enflurane and extracorporeal circulation. Peripheral vascular effects and consequences of hypothermia on its...

The effects of enflurane on systemic vascular resistance and venous capacitance, and its biotransformation during hypothermia, were studied in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery with enflurane anaesthesia. When administered during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), cardiac regulatory mechanisms being therefore excluded, enflurane induced an arteriolar vasodilation related to the concentration inhaled. An inspired concentration of 2.5% in hypothermia (28 degrees C) produced a drop in systemic vascular resistance of 30% from control level. In the same conditions, venous capacitance was not altered. The rise in the blood gas solubility coefficient during hypothermia was only partly balanced by haemodilution. Therefore, inspired enflurane concentration should be higher during hypothermic CPB than during normothermic anaesthesia to obtain the same effects. For the same amount of enflurane inhaled, the fraction of enflurane metabolized was higher in hypothermia than in normothermia, but the inorganic fluoride plasma concentration at its highest never reached the level of 50 mumol X 1(-1) regarded as the nephrotoxic threshold.