Postoperative liver injury after sevoflurane or propofol anesthesia in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery: a retrospective cohort study.

Although sevoflurane is generally considered safe, reports suggest that sevoflurane may cause postoperative liver injury more frequently than previously believed. Therefore, we aimed to compare the incidence of clinically significant postoperative liver injury following non-cardiac surgery between patients who underwent sevoflurane anesthesia and propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia. We retrospectively reviewed adult surgical patients from January 2010 to September 2022 who underwent general anesthesia in our center using sevoflurane or propofol over 3 h. After 1:1 propensity score matching, the incidence of postoperative liver injury was compared between the two groups. Out of 58,300 patients reviewed, 44,345 patients were included in the analysis. After propensity score matching, 7767 patients were included in each group. The incidence of postoperative liver injury was 1.4% in the sevoflurane group, which was similar to that in the propofol group (1.6%; p = 0.432). Comparison of the severity of postoperative alanine aminotransferase elevation showed that the incidence of borderline and mild elevation was higher in the sevoflurane group, but there was no difference in the incidence of moderate and severe elevation. In conclusion, sevoflurane anesthesia over 3 h was not associated with a higher incidence of clinically significant postoperative liver injury compared to propofol anesthesia.

The association of withholding or continuing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin 2 receptor blockers on acute kidney injury after non-cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Withholding or continuing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin 2 receptor blockers peri-operatively in non-cardiac surgery remains controversial as they may result in intra-operative hypotension and postoperative organ damage. METHODS: We included patients prescribed angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin 2 receptor blockers who underwent surgical procedures > 1 h duration under general or spinal anaesthesia from January 2012 to June 2022 in a single centre. We categorised patients by whether these drugs were withheld for 24 h before surgery. We evaluated the association of withholding these drugs before non-cardiac surgery with creatinine concentrations that increased ≥ 26.4 µmol.l-1 in the first 48 postoperative hours (acute kidney injury). We also analysed changes in creatinine concentrations and estimated glomerular filtration rates. RESULTS: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin 2 receptor blockers were withheld in 24,285 of 32,933 (74%) patients and continued in 8648 (26%) patients. We used propensity scores for drug discontinuation to match 8631 patient pairs who did or did not continue these drugs: acute kidney injury was recorded for 1791 (21%) patients who continued these drugs vs. 1587 (18%) who did not (OR (95%CI) 1.16 (1.08-1.25), p < 0.001). Intra-operative hypotension was recorded for 3892 (45%) patients who continued drugs vs. 3373 (39%) patients who did not (OR (95%CI) 1.28 (1.21-1.36), p < 0.001). Continuing drugs was independently associated with a mean increase in creatinine of 2.2 µmol.l-1 (p < 0.001) and a mean decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate of 1.4 ml.min.1.73 m-2 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Continuing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin 2 receptor blockers 24 h before non-cardiac surgery was associated with intra-operative hypotension and postoperative acute kidney injury.

Evaluation of pulse oximeter at the nasal septum during general anesthesia: comparison with finger oximeter.

PURPOSE: Though the finger is generally recommended for pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitoring site, its reliability may be compromised in conditions of poor peripheral perfusion. Therefore, we compared the performance of nasal septum SpO2 monitoring with finger SpO2 monitoring relative to simultaneous arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) monitoring in generally anesthetized patients. METHODS: In 23 adult patients, comparisons of SpO2 measured at the nasal septum and finger with simultaneous SaO2 were made at four time points during the 90 min study period. A pulse oximetry monitoring failure was defined as a > 10 s continuous failure of in an adequate SpO2 data acquisition. Core temperature as well as finger-tip and nasal septum temperatures were simultaneously measured at 10 min intervals. RESULTS: A total of 92 sets of SpO2 and SaO2 measurements were obtained in 23 patients. The bias and precision for SpO2 measured at the nasal septum were - 0.8 ± 1.3 (95% confidence interval: - 1.1 to - 0.6), which was similar to those for SpO2 measured at the finger (- 0.6 ± 1.4; 95% confidence interval: - 0.9 to - 0.4) (p = 0.154). Finger-tip temperatures were consistently lower than other two temperatures at all time points (p < 0.05), reaching 33.5 ± 2.3 °C at 90 min after induction of anesthesia. While pulse oximetry monitoring failure did not occur for nasal septum probe, two cases of failure occurred for finger probe. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the higher stability to hypothermia with a similar accuracy, nasal septum pulse oximetry may be an attractive alternative to finger pulse oximetry. Trail registration This study was registered with Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS: https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/en/ ; ref: KCT0008352).

Effect of continuing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers on the day of surgery on myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery: A retrospective cohort study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of continuing of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) prescriptions 24 h before surgery on postoperative myocardial injury and blood pressure in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. DESIGN: A single-center, retrospective study. SETTING: Operating room and perioperative care area. PATIENTS: 42,432 patients who had been taking chronic ACEI/ARB underwent non-cardiac surgery from January 2012 to June 2022. INTERVENTIONS: Patients who discontinued ACEI/ARB 24 h before surgery (withheld group, n=31,055) and those who continued ACEI/ARB 24 h before surgery (continued group, n=11,377). MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcome was myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery (MINS) within 7 days postoperatively. MINS was defined as an elevated postoperative cardiac troponin measurement above the 99th percentile of the upper reference limit with a rise/fall pattern. Perioperative blood pressure and clinical outcomes were secondary outcomes. MAIN RESULTS: Among 42,432 patients, MINS occurred in 2848 patients (6.7%) and was the all-cause of death within 30 days in 122 patients (0.3%). Incidence of MINS was significantly higher in the continued group than the withheld group (847/11,377 [7.4%] vs. 2001/31,055 [6.4%]; OR [95% CI] 1.17 [1.07-1.27]; P<0.001). After 1:1 propensity score matching, 11,373 patients were included in each group. There was still a significant difference for the occurrence of MINS between two groups in matched cohort (7.4% vs. 6.6%, OR [95% CI] 1.14 [1.03-1.26]; P=0.015). Time-average weight of mean arterial pressure <65 mmHg during surgery was significantly higher in the continued group (mean 0.11 vs. 0.09 [95% CI of mean difference] [0.01-0.03]; P<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in other clinical outcomes and mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Withholding ACEI/ARB before surgery was associated with a reduced risk of intraoperative hypotension and postoperative myocardial injury, but it did not affect overall clinical outcomes in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery.

Effects of Pravastatin on Type 1 Diabetic Rat Heart with or without Blood Glycemic Control.

Although statins have been suggested to attenuate the progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy, its effect without glycemic control remains unclear. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of pravastatin on diabetic rat hearts according to glycemic control. Rats were randomly divided into five groups: control (C), diabetes (D), diabetes with insulin (I), diabetes with pravastatin (P), and diabetes with insulin and pravastatin (IP). Eight weeks after allocated treatments, the heart was extracted and analyzed following echocardiography. Cardiac fibrosis was measured using Masson's trichrome stain. Cardiac expression of collagen I/III, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)/ACE2 was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and/or Western blot. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used for measuring reactive oxygen species (ROS). Diabetic groups without glycemic control (D and P) showed significantly impaired diastolic function and increased levels of cardiac fibrosis, collagen I/III, MMP-2, MMP-9, and ROS production. However, there were little significant differences in the outcomes among the control and two glucose-controlled diabetic groups (I and IP). Groups C and IP showed more preserved ACE2 and lower ACE expressions than the other groups did (D, I, and P). Our study suggested glycemic control would be more important to attenuate the progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy than pravastatin medication.