[Clinical study on total intravenous anesthesia with droperidol, fentanyl and ketamine. 14. Effect on epidural pressure].

We studied effect of total intravenous anesthesia using ketamine, fentanyl and droperidol (DFK) on epidural pressure as an index for cerebrospinal fluid pressure in six surgical patients who underwent gastrectomy. The epidural catheter was inserted on the previous day. The epidural puncture was made at Th7-12 and the tip of the catheter was located 5 cm cephalad. The epidural pressure was measured before, just after and 30 minutes after the induction. The induction dose of fentanyl was 5 micrograms.kg-1 and that of ketamine was 1 mg.kg-1. The epidural pressure at the induction decreased in significantly by 19% as compared with that before the induction. The result suggested that DFK would not increase cerebrospinal fluid pressure when the doses of ketamine and fentanyl were changed.