Previous studies to determine whether desflurane increases cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure are inconclusive because none have included all of the following: multiple doses of desflurane, administration for at least several hours, examination at normo- and hypocapnia, a concurrent comparison group, direct measurement of both intra- and extracranial CSF pressures, and measurement of venous pressures that influence CSF pressure. The present study was designed to determine whether CSF pressure increases during 4.0 h desflurane anesthesia using a study design that included the above elements. Catheters were placed in the lateral cerebral ventricle, cisterna magna, sagittal sinus, and jugular vein of 12 dogs anesthetized with thiopental 12 mg . kg-1 . h-1 and halothane 0.5 to 0.8%. Catheter pressures were measured, and the CSF-sagittal sinus pressure gradient and slope of the gradient to CSF pressure relationship were determined during control conditions. Then, 6 dogs were anesthetized with desflurane and 6 dogs were anesthetized with isoflurane, and the same values were determined for 1.0 h at each of four experimental conditions: 0.5 and 1.0 minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) during normocapnia (P(a)CO2 35-39 mm Hg) and 0.5 and 1.0 MAC during hypocapnia (P(a)CO2 20-24 mm Hg). CSF and sagittal sinus pressures, but not jugular venous pressure, increased with both desflurane and isoflurane. The greater increase of CSF pressure with 4.0 h desflurane (to 40.2 +/- 12.7 cm H2O) than with 4.0 h isoflurane (to 26.2 +/- 11.5 cm H2O) was attributable to an increase of CSF pressure that was greater during 2.0 h desflurane and normocapnia than during 2.0 h isoflurane and normocapnia, and to an increase of CSF pressure during 2.0 h desflurane and hypocapnia that was similar to that during 2.0 h isoflurane and hypocapnia. The greater increase of CSF pressure during desflurane may have resulted, in part, from increased CSF volume as indicated by a positive CSF-sagittal sinus pressure gradient (in contrast, there was little or no CSF-sagittal sinus pressure gradient during isoflurane) and a steeper slope of the gradient to CSF pressure relationship.
