Background
Kinetics of the uptake of inhaled anesthetics have been well studied, but the kinetics of elimination might be of more practical importance. The objective of the authors’ study was to assess the effect of the overall ventilation/perfusion ratio ( .VA/.Q ), for normal lungs, on elimination kinetics of desflurane and sevoflurane.
Methods
The authors developed a mathematical model of inhaled anesthetic elimination that explicitly relates the terminal washout time constant to the global lung .VA/.Q ratio. Assumptions and results of the model were tested with experimental data from a recent study, where desflurane and sevoflurane elimination were observed for three different .VA/.Q conditions: normal, low, and high.
Results
The mathematical model predicts that the global .VA/.Q ratio, for normal lungs, modifies the time constant for tissue anesthetic washout throughout the entire elimination. For all three .VA/.Q conditions, the ratio of arterial to mixed venous anesthetic partial pressure Part/Pmv reached a constant value after 5 min of elimination, as predicted by the retention equation. The time constant corrected for incomplete lung clearance was a better predictor of late-stage kinetics than the intrinsic tissue time constant.
Conclusions
In addition to the well-known role of the lungs in the early phases of inhaled anesthetic washout, the lungs play a long-overlooked role in modulating the kinetics of tissue washout during the later stages of inhaled anesthetic elimination. The .VA/.Q ratio influences the kinetics of desflurane and sevoflurane elimination throughout the entire elimination, with more pronounced slowing of tissue washout at lower .VA/.Q ratios.
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