Desflurane-remifentanil-nitrous oxide anaesthesia for abdominal surgery: optimal concentrations and recovery features.

Background: Intraoperative combinations of volatile and opioid agents are used to achieve unconsciousness, hypnotic sparing, haemodynamic stability and uneventful recovery. This study describes the influence of different remifentanil concentrations on these variables when combined with desflurane during abdominal surgery.

Methods: Sixty-one healthy adult patients were randomly allocated to one of five predefined remifentanil target concentrations (3, 5, 7, 10 or 15 ng ml(-1)).

The cardiovascular effects of mivacurium in hypertensive patients.

Unlabelled: Hypotension is common after mivacurium injection in healthy patients. This hemodynamic event had not been investigated in hypertensive patients characterized by more intense hemodynamic instability. In this open-label, multicenter, randomized, and controlled study, we sought to determine whether mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and heart rate variations were larger in hypertensive versus normotensive patients after a bolus dose of mivacurium injected over 10 or 30 s.