ABSTRACT
The present study was carried out to compare the effects of the most widely used inhalational anaesthetics in the form of nitrous oxide and oxygen or halothane and oxygen and regional analgesia using intrathecal bupivacaine on carbohydrate and fat metabolism. The study included the determination of blood glucose triglycerides and the hormones that affect their metabolism mainly growth hormone [GH] and adrencortictrophic hormone [ACTH] as well as the liver functions under the stress of minor operations. Thirty patients ASA 1 and II, were randomly divided into three groups, 10 patients in each group according to the type of anaesthetic. Venous blood samples were taken before induction of anaesthesia, during operation two hours after the end of surgery and on the third postoperative day. A significant increase in blood glucose was detected in the three groups and it remained significantly high in the nitrous oxide and halothane groups during the postoperative period. Plasma Gil increased significantly in the three groups and remained high in the immediate postoperative period and decreased to preoperative values on the third postoperative day. ACTH significantly increased in all three groups during operation and in the postoperative period However liver functions showed some changes but within normal levels. Therefore the rise of blood glucose, ACTH and GH indicates a stress response to anaesthesia and surgery especially in those receiving general anaesthesia hence it should be supplemented with analgesic agents as premedication, during induction of anaesthesia and during operation as well as in the postoperative period in order to obtund these stressful responses