Effects of Xenon on Hemodynamic Responses to Skin Incision in Humans

Background: The authors evaluated the hemodynamic suppressive effects of xenon in combination with sevoflurane at skin incision in patients undergoing surgery.

Methods: Forty patients were assigned randomly to receive one of the following four anesthetics: 1.3 minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) sevoflurane, 0.7 MAC xenon with 0.6 MAC sevoflurane, 1 MAC xenon with 0.3 MAC sevoflurane, or 0.7 MAC nitrous oxide with 0.6 MAC sevoflurane (n = 10 each group). Systolic blood pressure and heart rate were measured before anesthesia, before incision, and approximately 1 min after incision.

Results: The changes in hemodynamic variables in response to incision were less with sevoflurane in combination with xenon and nitrous oxide than with sevoflurane alone. Changes in heart rate (in beats/min) were 19 +/- 11 (+/- SD) for sevoflurane alone, 11 +/- 6 for 0.7 MAC xenon-sevoflurane, 4 +/- 4 for 1 MAC xenon-sevoflurane, and 8 +/- 7 for nitrous oxide-sevoflurane. Changes in systolic blood pressure were 35 +/- 18 mmHg for sevoflurane alone, 18 +/- 8 mmHg for 0.7 MAC xenon-sevoflurane, 16 +/- 7 mmHg for 1 MAC xenon-sevoflurane, and 14 +/- 10 mmHg for nitrous oxide-sevoflurane.