Does high-dose opioid anesthesia exacerbate ischemic spinal cord injury in rabbits?

Purpose Intrathecal morphine given during a post-ischemic period has been reported to have the potential to exacerbate ischemic spinal cord injury. However, it remains unknown whether synthetic opioids administered systemically exacerbate ischemic injury. We sought to compare the damage of the spinal cord after transient spinal cord ischemia in rabbits anesthetized with three different regimens; isoflurane, fentanyl with isoflurane, and remifentanil with isoflurane. Methods We assigned rabbits to three groups ( n = 9 in each); an isoflurane group (isoflurane 1 minimum alveolar concentration [MAC]), a fentanyl group (isoflurane 0.5 MAC + 100 μg·kg −1 IV fentanyl given over 30 min before aortic occlusion), and a remifentanil group (isoflurane 0.5 MAC + 1 μg·kg −1 ·min −1 IV remifentanil started 30 min before aortic occlusion and maintained until 1 h after reperfusion). Spinal cord ischemia was produced by occluding the abdominal aorta for 13 min. Hindlimb motor function (score range: 4, normal to 0, paraplegia) was assessed daily for 7 days, and then the number of normal neurons in the anterior spinal cord was counted. Results Severe motor dysfunction (score ≤ 1) was observed in seven, four, and five animals in the isoflurane, fentanyl, and remifentanil groups, respectively. There were no significant intergroup differences in neurological scores. There were no differences in the numbers of normal neurons among the three groups (22 ± 22, 42 ± 30, 33 ± 28, respectively). Conclusion Our results suggest that neither IV fentanyl nor IV remifentanil added to 0.5 MAC isoflurane exacerbated ischemic spinal cord injury in rabbits when compared to 1 MAC isoflurane.