Changes in Intracranial Pressure and Systemic Arterial Pressure during the Termination of Anaesthesia

Abstract

The increasing use of modern techniques for monitoring intracranial and systemic arterial pressures has shown that considerable changes can occur in these two parameters during a number of anaesthetic manoeuvres. However, although sharp increases in both pressures have been documented during the induction of anaesthesia and during the initial surgery in patients undergoing craniotomy (1), less attention has been paid to those changes taking place during the conclusion of anaesthesia (2). It is reasonably held that, following internal decompression, the changes in intracranial pressure are minimal in the immediate post-surgical phase. However, in view of the clinical deterioration that can occur occasionally at this stage, it seemed worth while investigating the sequence of events which take place during the termination of anaesthesia, to determine if significant changes in intracranial or arterial pressure occur.