Diazepam-pentazocine anaesthesia for cardiovascular surgery

Abstract

We have reported a series of 320 patients anaesthetized for operations with cardiopulmonary bypass using a combination of diazepam and pentazocine sup-plemented with nitrous oxide and oxygen. We found it to be a satisfactory tech-nique for the anaesthetic management of patients with poor cardiac reserve. Ease of induction and maintenance were noteworthy with this technique, with minimal side effects during anaesthesia and in the post-operative period. Although the use of pentazocine in large dosage has not been officially approved, we feel that use of a combination of diazepam and pentazocine in the technique we have described has many advantages in anaesthesia for operations with cardiopul-monary bypass. © 1974 Canadian Anesthesiologists.