Supplementation of general anaesthesia with enflurane 0.6% before delivery of the foetus by elective Caesarean section, produced contrasting effects after methohexitone and ketamine administration. Enflurane, an inhalational agent causing vasodilation and uterine relaxation, enhanced maternal to foetal transplacental exchange following methohexitone induction of narcosis. This beneficial effect of the volatile agent was not seen after ketamine, a vasoconstrictor drug which stimulates myometrial contraction.
References
1.
Brock-UtneJ. G., RubinJ., DowningJ. W., DimopoulosG.E., MoshallM. G., and NaickerM. (1976): “The administration of metaclopramide with atropine: a drug interaction effect on the gastro-oesophageal sphincter in man”, Anaesthesia, 31, 1186.
2.
Brock-UtneJ. G., DowningJ. W., WelmanS., DimopoulosG. E., and MoshalM. G. (1978): “Lower esophageal sphincter tone during reversal of neuromuscular blockade by atropine and neostigmine”, Anesth. Analg. Curr. Res. — in press.
3.
CrawfordJ. S., DaviesP., and PearsonJ. F. (1973): “Significance of the individual components of the Apgar score”, Brit. J. Anaesth., 45, 148.
4.
CrawfordJ. S. (1977): “Obstetrics, analgesia and anaesthesia”, Brit. J. Anaesth., 49, 19.
5.
ColemanA. J., and DowningJ. W. (1975): “Enflurane anesthesia for Cesarean section”, Anesthesiology, 43, 354.
6.
DowningJ. W., ColemanA. J., MahomedyM. C., JealD. E., and MahomedyY. H. (1974): “Lateral table tilt for Caesarean section”, Anaesthesia, 29, 696.
7.
DowningJ. W., FairbrotherP. E., BuleyR. J. R., Brock-UtneJ. G., KambaranS. R., and MacPhersonT. A. (1978): “Hypothesis — volatile anaesthetic agents enhance transplacental exchange between mother and fetus. (A study of fetal scalp blood gas changes associated with enflurane anaesthesia)”. — study in progress.
8.
DundeeJ. W., and WyantG. M. (1974b): Intravenous Anaesthesia, p. 224. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh and London.
9.
DundeeJ. W., and WyantG. M. (1974b): Intravenous Anaesthesia, p. 77. Churchill Livingtone, Edinburgh and London.
10.
DundeeJ. W., and WyantG. M. (1974c). Intravenous Anaesthesia, p. 93. Churchill Livingstone. Edinburgh and London.
11.
GalloonS. (1973): “Ketamine and the pregnant uterus”, Canad. Anaesth. Soc. J., 20, 141.
12.
HellegersA. E., and SchrueferJ. J. P. (1961): “Nomograms and empirical equations relating oxygen tension, percentage saturation and pH in maternal and fetal blood”. Amer. J. Ohstet. Gynecol., 81, 377.
13.
MoirD. D. (1970): “Anaesthesia for Caesarean section: an evaluation of a method using low concentrations of halothane and 50 per cent of oxygen”, Brit. J. Anaesth., 42, 136.
14.
MoirD. D. (1976): Obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia, p. 145. Baillière Tindall, London.
15.
MunsonE. S., and EmbroW. J. (1977): “Enflurane, isoflurane, and halothane and isolated human uterine muscle”, Anesthesiology, 46, 11.
16.
NeumarkJ., and ClarkR. B. (1977): “Halothane for intrauterine resuscitation of the fetus”, Anesthesiology Review. September, p. 13.