Antihypertensive activity and metabolic rate of prostaglandin E1 in surgical patients under general anesthesia.

Plasma immunoreactive prostaglandin E (iPGE) levels during PGE1 infusion for controlling systemic blood pressure were investigated. Differences in systemic blood pressure changes between halothane-nitrous oxide-oxygen (GOF) anesthesia groups and a neuroleptanesthesia (NLA) group during infusion in hypertensive surgical patients were compared. Plasma iPGE concentration increased from 200 +/- 30 pg/ml to 408 +/- 55 pg/ml within 5 minutes at the beginning of PGE1 infusion. After the cessation of PGE1 infusion, iPGE levels quickly returned to pre-infusion levels, but blood pressure had not recovered to pre-infusion levels within 30 minutes. Blood pressure was well controlled with PGE1 infusion, but the pressure changes in GOF anesthesia group were significantly larger than those in the NLA group. The results suggest that the long anti-hypertensive action of PGE1 could be effective to control blood pressure in hypertensive surgical patients during and after surgery.