Circulatory changes during a hypotensive technique of anesthesia.
The blood circulation and the oxygen consumption of the tissues during general hypotensive anesthesia for stapes surgery is quantitatively studied on 40 patients. The rate of oxygen consumption of the whole body and of the tissue of an upper extremity is determined together with the rate of blood flow in that extremity. A series of other parameters such as the PaCO2 and the acid-base balance of arterial and venous blood, the blood pressure, the pulse frequency and the temperature are also measured. Most measurements are performed before premedication, after premedication and after surgery. The state of the patient in the immediate postoperative period is completely comparable with the peroperative anesthetic state. Some of the parameters mentioned above are measured also on a series of 8 normal persons at awake and at asleep state. The numerical results show clearly that the used type of general anesthesia "Protected Sleep" obeys the demands necessary for performing microsurgery of the ear in a successful way. (Acta anaesth. belg., 1980, 31, 15-27).