Animal experiments have shown levobupivacaine and ropivacaine to be less cardiotoxic than racemic bupivacaine. This in vivo study, using a validated swine model, compared the relative direct cardiotoxicities of these three local anesthetics. The lethal dose did not differ between levobupivacaine and ropivacaine, but was lowest for racemic bupivacaine.

eFLRF is a better predictor of PHLF than PBLS or HBS alone. PBLS seem to measure other aspects of liver function or damage than HBS.

We measured the hypopharyngeal pH to compare the incidence of regurgitation associated with the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) and the tracheal tube (TT) in spontaneously breathing, anesthetized patients. Sixty outpatients scheduled for elective peripheral surgery with a standardized general anesthetic technique were randomly allocated to receive either a LMA (n = 28) or a TT (n = 32) for airway management. A 4-mm pH electrode was placed in the hypopharynx, and pH values were continuously collected and stored in a portable pH data logger system until the end of the operation. There were no episodes of hypopharyngeal regurgitation (pH < 4) detected during the course of measurement. At no time did the hypopharyngeal pH value decrease below 5.5. The hypopharyngeal pH values in both groups were similar, ranging between 5.5 and 7.5, with median values of 5.7 and 6.2 in the LMA and TT groups, respectively. The pH in any given patient did not vary more than 1.0 unit from the initial value recorded at the start of the operation. We conclude that continuous monitoring of the hypopharyngeal pH in spontaneously breathing, anesthetized outpatients failed to detect evidence of pharyngeal regurgitation.

A predefined cutoff for preoperatively calculated eFLRF can be used as a tool for selecting patients prior to hepatectomy, with or without PVO, thus avoiding PHLF and PHLF-related mortality.