D. Chassard et al., EFFECT OF HALOTHANE, ISOFLURANE AND DESFLURANE ON LOWER ESOPHAGEAL SPHINCTER TONE, British Journal of Anaesthesia, 77(6), 1996, pp. 781-783
We have studied the effects of volatile anaesthetics on lower oesophag
eal sphincter (LOS) tone in three groups of eight pigs allocated rando
mly to receive end-tidal concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 MAC of des
flurane, isoflurane or halothane for 15 min. LOS and oesophageal barri
er pressures (BrP = LOSP - gastric pressure) were measured using a man
ometric method. The decrease in BrP paralleled the decrease in LOS pre
ssure and was significant at 0.5 MAC for isoflurane and at 1.0 MAC for
halothane. At 1.5 MAC, BrP values were approximately 62% of baseline
values for halothane, 37% for isoflurane and 83% for desflurane. Inter
-group comparisons showed that BrP did not differ at baseline and at 0
.5 MAC. At 1.0 MAC the effect of isoflurane on BrP was significantly d
ifferent from desflurane (P < 0.001) and halothane (P < 0.02) whereas
the effect of desflurane on BrP was not significantly different from h
alothane. At 1.5 MAC the effect of isoflurane on BrP was significantly
different from desflurane (P < 0.01) and halothane (P < 0.05) whereas
the effect of desflurane on BrP was not significantly different from
halothane. We conclude that desflurane maintained BrP and this may be
clinically important in patients at high risk of regurgitation.