Development of a neurosurgical operating table for adult cattle and changes in intracranial pressure and blood pressure in adult cattle undergoing long-time isoflurane anesthesia.

We developed a neurosurgical operating table for restraining adult cattle in the sternal recumbent position during long-time inhalation anesthesia, and examined intracranial pressure (ICP), blood pressure and blood gases during isoflurane anesthesia. We confirmed that the maintenance of inhalation anesthesia, the restraint of cattle in the sternal recumbent position and bringing the cattle out of anesthesia could all be carried out safely using the operating table we produced. For the purposes of the present experiment, the cattle were divided into 2 groups: the SR group, which underwent sternal recumbency for 8 hr under isoflurane anesthesia using the neurosurgical operating table, and the RR group, which underwent right lateral recumbency for 3 hr under isoflurane anesthesia on a standard operating table. The mean ICP was found to be significantly lower in the SR group than in the RR group during anesthesia, and PaO2 was significantly higher in the SR group. In the SR group, no complications such as regurgitation or ruminal tympany occurred for 8 hr after the induction of anesthesia, and recovery from anesthesia was uneventful. In contrast, all RR cattle showed ruminal tympany and regurgitated ruminal fluid at 3 hr after the induction of anesthesia. Thus, the neurosurgical operating table developed in the present study may be useful for long-time anesthesia and neurosurgery of adult cattle.