An Improved Anesthesia for Pediatric Heart Surgery

A study has demonstrated that a new anesthesia drug produced improved neurologic outcomes and other benefits in young pigs that underwent cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. The study was published in the December 2002 issue of Anesthesiology.

Many babies must undergo open-heart surgery before their first birthday to correct cardiovascular defects. In the study, researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (PA, USA) used desflurane, an anesthesia gas, on piglets undergoing a low-flow type of bypass at one week of age. They were better able to walk and to feed and had less injury to brain tissue than piglets that received a liquid anesthesia consisting of fentanyl combined with droperidol. Also, the animals receiving desflurane showed fewer abnormal heart rhythms, suggesting the drug may protect heart function.

"This study adds to growing evidence that this type of anesthetic protects the brain and nervous system during heart surgery,” said Andreas W. Loepke, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric anesthesiologist at The Children's Hospital and lead author of the study.

The researchers say they are uncertain about the process by which desflurane improved neurologic outcomes but they speculate that it may decrease the amount and effects of deleterious amino acids in the brain.




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