In anaesthetic practice the risk of
hypoxia and arterial blood gas disturbances is evident, as most anaesthetic regimens depress the respiratory function.
Hypoxia may be extended during recovery, and for this reason we wished to investigate if
oxygen supply during a one hour post-operative period reduced the development of
hypoxia and
respiratory acidosis in rats anaesthetized with
fentanyl/
fluanisone and
midazolam. Twelve Sprague Dawley rats underwent surgery and were divided in two groups, breathing either 100%
oxygen or atmospheric air during a post-operative period. The peripheral blood oxygen saturation and arterial
acid-base status were analyzed for differences between the two groups. We found that
oxygen supply after surgery prevented
hypoxia but did not result in a significant difference in the blood
acid-base status. All rats developed
respiratory acidosis, which could not be reversed by supplemental
oxygen supply. We concluded that
oxygen supply improved oxygen saturation and avoided
hypoxia but did not have an influence on the
acid-base status.