Leucocyte distribution during sevoflurane anaesthesia

Abstract

We have examined if sevoflurane anaesthesia per se modified the number of circulating leucocytes in humans. Fifty-nine patients undergoing elective surgery were anaesthetized with sevoflurane in oxygen. The inhaled concentration was increased gradually to 5% and maintained for 20 min. Arterial blood samples were obtained before induction of anaesthesia and at 20 min. While the total number of leucocytes remained constant, circulating neutrophils decreased (mean 3370 (SD 1030) mm-3 to 3170 (940) mm-3; P < 0.01) and lymphocytes increased (1870 (520) mm-3 to 2040 (580) mm-3; P < 0.01). We conclude that high concentrations of sevoflurane modified the distribution of leucocytes in anaesthetized patients.

The effect of repeated sevoflurane and nitrous oxide exposure on immunity in rabbits

“…there are numerous in vitro studies investigating the effects of inhalant anesthetics on peripheral blood lymphocytes, and to a lesser extent on other cell types, while in vivo studies in animals and humans are very rare. According to MORISAKI et al (1998), total leukocyte count did not change following sevoflurane anesthesia, but the number of neutrophils decreased and the number of lymphocytes increased, which is in contrast to the results obtained in our study. Unlike the study cited above, the results reported by PUIG et al (2002) are consistent with our study.…”

“…Isoflurane (TYTHER et al, 2001) and sevoflurane (TYTHER et al, 2003) were found to induce dose-dependent inhibition of polymorphonuclear neutrophil apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. as reported by MORISAKI et al (1998), total lymphocyte count did not change following sevoflurane anesthesia, but neutrophil count was observed to decrease while lymphocyte count increased. Data on repeated sevoflurane exposure are scarce and no major differences have been described between the adverse effects caused by initial and repeated sevoflurane exposure.…”

“…It has been demonstrated that anesthetic agents given during any procedure may lead to immunosuppression (KELBEL and WEISS, 2001). Most clinical studies have been focused on the combined effects of surgery and anesthesia on the immune function (MORISAKI et al, 1998, DELOGU et al, 2000SCHNEEMILCH and BANK, 2001;HORI et al, 2003;COCELLI et al, 2012), with only a few studies dealing specifically with anesthetic agents (DAGAN et al, 1989;MOUDGIL and SINGAL, 1997;PUIG et al, 2002;ELENA et al, 2003;MÜLLER-EDENBORN et al, 2015).…”

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“…Inhalational anaesthetics induced different effects on lymphocytes. Some studies have showed an increase in lymphocyte counts after sevoflurane, halothane and desflurane anaesthesia 6,13,19 , while others showed lower counts 10,20 . Sevoflurane and isoflurane induced lymphocyte apoptosis 22 16,18 .…”

“…Sevoflurane and isoflurane induced lymphocyte apoptosis 22 16,18 . Propofol and desflurane increase neutrophil counts in peripheral circulating blood 13,14 , although several studies have reported contradictory effects of sevoflurane on neutrophil count 13,14,19 .…”