Can General Anesthetics Produce Splanchnic Visceral Hypoxia by Reducing Regional Blood Flow?

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Abstract
Thrity-five normal adult males were studied before and during either cyclopropane or halothane anesthesia in an effort to learn whether these agents cause a critical reduction in the availability of oxygen to the splanchnic viscera. Although hepatic blood flow was markedly reduced during the inhalation of either agent, splanchnic oxygen utilization was not consistently affected, and restoration of blood flow to the initial level gave no clear evidence that an oxygen debt has been incurred during the period of reduced flow. Clearance of indocyanine green dye was reduced in proportion to blood flow when either cyclopropane or halothane was inhaled, but restoration of flow rate to normal did not ocrrect the deficiency in clearance. "Excess" lactate was produced by the splanchnic viscera during cyclopropane but not during halothane anesthesia. This effect could be abolished by a beta adrenergic blocking drug. Therefore, "excess" lactate apparently resulted not from splanchnic ischemia but from metabolic action associated with increased sympathetic nervous activity in these viscera.