UPTAKE OF SUFENTANIL, ALFENTANIL AND MORPHINE IN THE LUNGS OF PATIENTS ABOUT TO UNDERGO CORONARY-ARTERY SURGERY

We have studied the pulmonary extraction and retention of sufentanil, alfentanil and morphine using a double indicator technique in 30 patients undergoing elective aortocoronary bypass surgery. Patients were allocated to three groups (10 each) to receive sufentanil 43-mu-g, alfentanil 672-mu-g or morphine 1887-mu-g, mixed with indocyanine green as indicator. After sufentanil, mean peak extraction was 93.7% (95% confidence interval 87.1-100.4%) and release occurred after 16.1 (13.8-18.4) s; first-pass retention was 61.1 (51.3-70.9) %. After alfentanil, peak extraction was 67.4 (42.7-92.0) % and release occurred after 9.9 (8.5-11.3) s; first-pass retention was 10.1 (3.5-16.7) %. After morphine, peak extraction was 58.3 (44.4-72.2) % and release occurred after 7.2 (4.4-10.1) s; first-pass retention was 7.1 (-4.7-19.9) %. Both peak extraction and first-pass retention were significantly greater after sufentanil. There was no significant difference in the peak extraction and first-pass retention between alfentanil and morphine.