Nitrous oxide is a potent cerebrovasodilator in humans when added to isoflurane. A transcranial Doppler study.

Nitrous oxide during neurosurgical procedures is almost always given in combination with either volatile or intravenous anesthetics. The modifying influence of such interventions has been studied clinically and in experimental settings; the reported findings, however, are inconsistent. The present study compares the cerebrovascular effects of MAC equivalent concentrations of isoflurane alone and isoflurane plus nitrous oxide. Twenty lumbar laminectomy patients randomized either to receive isoflurane or isoflurane plus nitrous oxide were investigated over a dose range from 0.5 to 1.5 MAC. A transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography device was used to measure cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in the right middle cerebral artery (MCA) as an index of anesthetic-induced alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF). A small but marginally significant decrease in CBFV at 1 MAC and no change at 1.5 MAC occurred in the isoflurane anesthetized patients. In contrast, a small but significant increase in CBFV at 1 MAC and a very significant increase at 1.5 MAC occurred in the isoflurane plus nitrous oxide anesthetized patients. Nitrous oxide added to an isoflurane anesthetic regimen is concluded to be a potent vasodilator. In addition, the vasodilating effects of nitrous oxide were not uniform; they progressively increased with an increasing isoflurane concentration.