Journal of North Khorasan

Background and Objectives: General anesthesia and surgery are the Cause of various physiological disorders in different organs of patients, giving rise to   different complications during recovery of the patient. Emergence from anesthesia and tracheal extubation may be associated with tracheal stimulation ,leading to  cough and hemodynamic changes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of remifentanil infusion with maintenance dose on symptoms such as cough and hemodynamic changes after general anesthesia.

Methods and Materials: In a double-blind clinical trial study, 60 patients underwent discectomy surgery with general anesthesia,were divided into the control group and remifentanil receiving group during emergence from anesthesia. At the end of surgery, remifentanil infusion was discontinued in the control group and in remifentanil receiving group with /015μg/kg/min continued until extubation. Blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation were measured.

Results: During the emergence, mean blood pressure and heart rate of remifentanil group 5 minutes after extubation, were significantly lower than those of control group. Oxygen saturation in remifentanil group was significantly higher at 5th minutes after extubation in the comparison with the control group. No significant difference was found in the incidence of cough in patients of both groups. Time awakening from anesthesia was significantly longer in the control group.

Conclusions: Maintain a low dose of remifentanil infusion during emergence from anesthesia decreased hemodynamic changes without delay of awakening time significantly.

Keywords: remifentanil, hemodynamic changes, extubation, discectomy