Influence of Minor Dental Surgery with and without Intravenous Sedation on Levels of Hormones Responsible for Volume Homeostasis in Elderly Hypertensive Patients.

Changes in the hormones responsible for volume homeostasis were observed before, during, and after minor dental surgery in 25 elderly hypertensive patients. These patients were divided into two groups. Group L patients were operated on using local anesthesia alone. Group LS patients were operated on using local anesthesia and intravenous sedation together. We found that plasma renin activity and aldosterone and vasopressin levels did not change intraoperatively in either group. We also found that intraoperative plasma human atrial natriuretic peptide (HANP) levels and systolic blood pressure were significantly elevated in group L and significantly decreased in group LS. Before local anesthesia was administered, HANP levels in both groups were already higher than the normal range in healthy adults. Therefore, these results suggest that increased HANP levels represent a compensatory response to offset further elevation of blood pressure. However, these increases did not seem to be sufficient to actually cause a decrease in blood pressure.