Antidiuretic and growth hormone responses during coronary artery surgery with sufentanil-oxygen and alfentanil-oxygen anesthesia in man.

Antidiuretic hormone (ADH), growth hormone (GH), and cardiovascular responses to large (anesthetic) doses of alfentanil (1.2 +/- 0.02 mg/kg) and oxygen and sufentanil (13.1 +/- 0.4 microgram/kg) and oxygen were measured before and during surgery (including cardiopulmonary bypass) and at the end of surgery in 29 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. The data demonstrate that alfentanil-O2 and sufentanil-O2 result in little change in cardiovascular dynamics throughout anesthesia and surgery, and also prevent changes in plasma levels of ADH and GH at all times during the study. Our findings contrast with previous studies with other anesthetics, including fentanyl, in which plasma levels of ADH and GH become markedly elevated during bypass. The results suggest that alfentanil and sufentanil may block hormonal stress responses to surgical stimulus better than fentanyl does. The clinical significance of the difference in ADH and GH responses during fentanyl and during alfentanil or sulfentanil anesthesia remains to be determined. However, this difference may provide part of the explanation why alfentanil and sufentanil-O2 anesthesia require less frequent employment of other anesthetic adjuvants and are easier to use than fentanyl during coronary artery surgery.