EFFECTS OF INTRAVENOUS METHOHEXITONE ON PERIPHERAL BLOOD FLOW IN PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT ARTERIAL DISEASE

Summary: The effects of light methohexitone anaesthesia on peripheral blood flow were studied in 23 patients, using a mercury in rubber plethysmograph on the leg. Fifteen patients had peripheral arterial disease and 5 of these had previously undergone lumbar sympathectomy. The remaining 8 patients had a normal cardiovascular system. The blood flow in the leg increased by a mean of 45 per cent in the patients with peripheral arterial disease without sympathectomy and by a mean of 89 per cent in patients without vascular disease. By contrast, in 4 out of the 5 patients who had previously undergone sympathectomy the blood flow decreased. It is, therefore, thought that methohexitone causes peripheral vasodilatration by an action on the sympathetic nervous system. Analysis of the changes in arterial blood pressure in relation to the calculated changes in peripheral resistance suggests that methohexitone has an additional central effect on the heart. © 1969 John Sherratt and Son Ltd.