Cardiovascular effects and predictability of cardiovascular collapse after repeated intravenous bolus injections of absolute ethanol in anesthetized pigs.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of repeated intravenous bolus injections of absolute ethanol on cardiopulmonary hemodynamic changes and to investigate the predictability of ethanol-induced cardiovascular collapse in anesthetized pigs.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty pigs aged 3-6 months and weighing 28-38 kg were enrolled in the study. Absolute ethanol (0.1 mL/kg of body weight) was repeatedly injected through the inferior vena cava central to the renal vein at 10-minute intervals up to a total volume of 1.0 mL/kg. The subjects were divided into a cardiovascular collapse group and a no-collapse group according to the development or absence of cardiac collapse.
RESULTS: Among the 20 pigs, 12 died before the final injection. Hemodynamic parameters measured immediately before the injection of absolute ethanol did not differ between the cardiovascular collapse group and the no-collapse group except that among animals with cardiovascular collapse, the injection immediately before the one causing cardiovascular collapse resulted in significant increases in the following hemodynamic parameters: mean pulmonary arterial pressure (P < .01), pulmonary vascular resistance (P = .04), and right ventricular end-diastolic volume (P = .02). No such increases were observed in the no-collapse group.
CONCLUSIONS: Hemodynamic profiles in pigs obtained immediately before intravenous injection of absolute ethanol did not predict the subsequent occurrence of cardiovascular collapse except after the injection immediately preceding the one resulting in cardiovascular collapse. In this animal model, significant increases in select hemodynamic parameters occurred after the injection immediately preceding the one resulting in cardiovascular collapse.