British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2004, Vol. 92, No. 1 25-32
© 2004 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia
Clinical Investigations |
Mid-latency auditory evoked response during propofol and alfentanil anaesthesia
1 Medical Physics and Bioengineering and 2 University Department of Anaesthesia, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 3 Department of Anaesthesia, Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, UK
*Corresponding author: Department of Medical Physics, Bristol General Hospital, Bristol BS1 6SY, UKE-mail: mark.a.tooley@bris.ac.uk
Background. Propofol has been shown to affect the mid-latency auditory evoked response (MLAER) in a dose-dependant manner. Few studies have investigated the addition of alfentanil. Myogenic responses, such as the post-auricular responses (PAR), can confound the MLAER but there has been little investigation as to which electrode site reduces this interference.
Methods. We studied the MLAER in 27 women. They received an infusion of alfentanil 15 µg kg1 h1, followed by either a high or low infusion regimen of propofol (final infusion rates 6 and 3 mg kg1 h1). We compared the results with those of our study using propofol alone. We collected the data from two electrode sites: vertexinion and vertexmastoid. We evaluated the occurrence of the PAR and the shape of the MLAER at each electrode site.
Results. The infusion rate of propofol associated with loss of the eyelash response in 50% of subjects was 3.3 mg kg1 h1. This was significantly lower than using propofol alone (5.8 mg kg1 h1). Nb latency was the best MLAER discriminator of unconsciousness (sensitivity 94%, specificity 88%), with a threshold of 46 ms (propofol alone was 53 ms). The addition of alfentanil did not alter the relationship between propofol infusion rate and MLAER. The vertexinion electrode site gave the best protection against PAR in awake subjects (P=0.0003), and after 30 min of propofol infusion (P=0.06). The magnitude of the MLAER obtained from the vertexmastoid electrodes was larger than from the other site, although the increase was not consistent throughout the waveform (brain stem 100%, Nb 14%).
Conclusions. Addition of alfentanil lowers the propofol infusion rate required to produce unconsciousness and the Nb latency that predicts it. The better of the two sites to reduce the incidence of PAR is the vertexinion electrode site.
Br J Anaesth 2004; 92: 2532
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