[A case report of total intravenous anesthesia for renal transplantation]

A 20-year-old female patient with chronic renal failure received renal transplantation under total intravenous anesthesia with droperidol, fentanyl and ketamine. Anesthesia was induced with droperidol 12.5 mg, fentanyl 100 micrograms, ketamine 100 mg and vecuronium bromide 5 mg, and maintained with fentanyl and ketamine. Ketamine was given continuously at a rate of 2.0 mg.kg-1.h-1. After the renal artery and vein of the donor kidney were anastomosed with the patient's internal iliac artery and vein, the urine output of 7.7 ml.min-1 was obtained. The patient recovered from anesthesia smoothly and her postoperative course was uneventful. Although plasma epinephrine, cortisol and ADH levels showed significant changes during anesthesia mainly due to surgical stress, they returned to normal values after the end of operation. We conclude that this method of anesthesia would be a choice for renal transplantation.