Response to CO2 and autoregulation of cortical cerebral blood flow during isoflurane anesthesia

Response to CO2 and autoregulation of cortical cerebral blood flow (CBF) during isoflurane anesthesia were studied in 10 patients undergoing neurosurgery. The patients were anesthetized with 0.5 to 1.2% end-tidal isoflurane and 66% nitrous oxide in oxygen. The CBF was measured by thermal diffusion using a flow probe with a Peltier stack. PaCO2 was controlled to produce hypocarbia, normocarbia and hypercarbia by changing tidal volume and respiratory rate. Arterial blood pressure was altered. Hypotension was achieved by intravenous infusion of trimetaphan and hypertension was induced by intravenous administration of metaraminol. During isoflurane anesthesia the response to CO2 of CBF was kept at PaCO2 between 27.8 and 53.9 mmHg. The following relationship was obtained. CBF = 2.54 x PaCO2-53.0, r = 0.59, n = 131 The autoregulation of CBF was evaluated in 7 patients, and in 2 patients, the autoregulation of CBF was abolished.