The Effect of Depth of Anesthesia on Hemodynamic Changes Induced by Therapeutic Compression of the Trigeminal Ganglion.

Background: Percutaneous compression of the trigeminal ganglion (PCTG) has been used to treat trigeminal neuralgia since 1983. A PCTG-related trigeminocardiac reflex (TCR) can induce dramatic hemodynamic disturbances. This study investigates the effects of depth of propofol anesthesia on hemodynamic changes during PCTG. Materials and Methods: A total of 120 patients who underwent PTCG for trigeminal neuralgia were randomly assigned to control group-intravenous saline pretreatment before PCTG puncture and anesthesia targeted to bispectral index (BIS) 40 to 60 throughout, and study group-intravenous propofol 1 to 2 mg/kg pretreatment to deepen anesthesia to BIS<40 before PCTG. Mean arterial pressure, heart rate (HR), cardiac output, system vascular resistance, and BIS were measured at 9 time points during the procedure, and the incidence of the TCR was observed at T(5)and T-6. Results: BIS was lower in the study group compared with the control after pretreatment with propofol or saline, respectively. Compared with the control group, mean arterial pressure was lower in the study group at several points during the procedure, but there was no difference in HR between the 2 groups at any point. Cardiac output was higher and system vascular resistance lower in the study compared with the control group. In the control group, 42 (70.0%) and 52 (86.7%) of patients developed a TCR at the 2 points, and 37 (67.1%) and 45 (75.0%) in the study group. There was no difference in the incidence of TCR between the 2 groups. Conclusion: Increasing the depth of propofol anesthesia partially attenuated PTCG-related elevation of blood pressure but did not modify the abrupt reduction in HR.