Transient liver deterioration induced by general anesthesia

The disappearance rate of bromsulphthalein (BSP) has been studied in 43 patients before and during vaginal hysterectomy under three kinds of anesthesia: Halothane anesthesia, neuroleptanalgesia, and peridural anesthesia. Furthermore, serum enzymes were measured before and after surgery. The half-life of BSP in the elimination phase is significantly prolonged during general anesthesia but not during the peridural anesthesia in the same procedure. There were slight increases of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase in the later postoperative days with no changes of transaminases and alkaline phosphatase. It can be concluded that the known post-operative transient liver dysfunction, detected only by the BSP-test, occurs during the performance of surgery and is caused by the influence of the general anesthesia on the intrahepatic cell metabolism and not by the operative procedure itself.