Hepatocellular integrity during and after isoflurane and halothane anaesthesia in surgical patients

Subclinical disturbance in hepatocellular integrity, indicated by glutathione transferase Alpha (GSTA), has been associated with halothane, sevoflurane and propofol, but not with isoflurane anaesthesia. We anaesthetized 82 patients with isoflurane or halothane at 1 MAC for superficial surgery. GSTA concentration were measured with a sensitive time-resolved immunofluorometric assay in serum samples. GSTA concentrations increased from a baseline value of geometric mean 1.8 micrograms litre-1 (95% confidence intervals 1.4-2.2 micrograms litre-1) to a peak of 4.3 (3.3-5.7) micrograms litre-1 in the isoflurane group and from 2.1 (1.6-2.9) micrograms litre-1 to 6.2 (4.1-9.5) micrograms litre-1 in the halothane group. The change in GSTA was significant within groups but the difference between groups was not significant. Two patients exhibited an unexpectedly large increase in GSTA (peaks 370 and 620 micrograms litre-1) and a mild increase in alanine aminotransferase after halothane anaesthesia. We conclude that hepatocellular integrity was mildly disturbed after isoflurane and halothane anaesthesia but there was no difference between anaesthetics. Halothane anaesthesia may be associated with more advanced hepatocellular disturbance in some cases.