Effects of respiratory acidosis on the arrhythmia threshold during fluroxene and halothane anesthesia.

Hypercarbia was induced in 12 patients anesthetized with either halothane or fluroxene in an inspired concentration of approximately 1.3 MAC (1% halothane and 4-5% fluroxene). The six patients receiving halothane anesthesia responded to hypercarbia with a pronounced tachycardia, an increased arterial pressure and an electrocardiographically monitored threshold level for ventricular arrhythmias at a Paco2 level averaging 98 mmHg. The six patients receiving fluroxene anesthesia responded to hypercarbia with both tachycardia and hypertension, but in spite of an average Paco2 level of 109 mmHg, no ventricular arrhythmias could be provoked. It is therefore suggested that within the non-narcotic level of hypercarbia a threshold level for cardiac arrhythmias does not exist under fluroxene anesthesia.