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Carbon Dioxide Homeostasis and Recovery after General Anaesthesia
Author(s) -
Hovorka J.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.1982.tb01806.x
Subject(s) - medicine , anesthesia , ventilation (architecture) , fentanyl , nitrous oxide , carbon dioxide , general anaesthesia , mechanical ventilation , surgery , mechanical engineering , ecology , engineering , biology
The influence of different levels of carbon dioxide during general anaesthesia on postoperative recovery was studied. Sixty female patients were divided into two age groups. Thirty patients were over 60 years old and 30 patients were under 46 years old. Artificial ventilation with added carbon dioxide during general anaesthesia with thiopentone, nitrous oxide‐oxygen, alcuronium and fentanyl was used. According to the arterial CO 2 tension, patients were allocated to subgroups: hypercarbic, Paco 2 7.3 kPa, normocarbic, Paco 2 5.3 kPa and two different levels of hypocarbia: older patients Paco 2 3.7 kPa and younger patients Paco 2 2.9 kPa. As criteria for recovery, a battery of recovery tests and postoperative questionnaires were used. Regardless of age, patients subjected to hypercarbic ventilation scored better in the recovery tests than patients subjected to normo‐ or hypocarbia. Normocarbic ventilation also gave better results than hypocarbic ventilation. The level of hypocarbia used in the older patients and that used in the younger patients, though different, resulted in nearly the same deterioration of scoring in the recovery tests. This deterioration was seen in some patients up to 48 h postoperatively. No subjective differences were elicited from the questionnaires after various types of ventilation.