Transcutaneous cranial electrical stimulation decreases narcotic requirements during neurolept anesthesia and operation in man.

The influence of transcutaneous cranial electrical stimulation (TCES) on fentanyl requirements was evaluated in 50 patients undergoing urologic operations with pure neuroleptanesthesia (droperidol, diazepam, fentanyl, and air oxygen) with (group I) or without (group II) simultaneous TCES. All patients had silver electrodes (three) applied between the eyebrows and behind each mastoid process and attached to a 167-kHz current generator. Current was delivered only to group I. The wave form was a complex nonsinusoidal, nonsquare wave pattern which was applied intermittently in a 3-msec-on 10-msec-off sequence. All patients had anesthesia induced with droperidol (0.20 mg/kg IV), diazepam (0.2 mg/kg IV), and pancuronium (0.08 mg/kg IV), and, after tracheal intubation, had anesthesia maintained with fentanyl in 100-microgram intravenous increments every 3 minutes whenever and as long as systolic arterial blood pressure and/or heart rate were greater than 20% of control (preanesthetic induction) values. Fentanyl requirements averaged 6.1 +/- 0.5 and 7.9 +/- 0.4 microgram/kg/min for a mean total dosage of 9.0 +/- 0.9 and 12.5 +/- 0.8 microgram/kg for the entire operation in groups I and II, respectively. These differences between groups were statistically significant (p less than 0.05). The data demonstrate that TCES augments the analgesic effects of fentanyl and thus reduces fentanyl requirements during urologic operations with neuroleptanesthesia.