A pilot study: defibrillation thresholds in dogs are similar with isoflurane, halothane, and pentobarbital

The objective of this pilot study was to determine if three common anesthetic drugs have differing effects on the measurement of defibrillation thresholds (DFT) in dogs. The drugs compared were pentobarbital, isoflurane, and halothane. We used six dogs, which were surgically instrumented, in a chronic study design. Each dog had two internal defibrillation patches placed on its heart, which were used to deliver the defibrillation energy. DFT was determined while each dog was anesthetized under each of the listed drugs in a crossover design. This pilot study suggests that differences in DFT due to the anesthetic drugs is not significant in studies with low numbers of animals (halothane 14.5 +/- 1.0, isoflurane 14.2 +/- 1.0, pentobarbital 12.8 +/- 1.0; P = NS; mean +/- SE). The variation in DFT between individual animals is much larger than the difference in DFT due to the drugs.