Intracranial pressure changes during xenon anesthesia in neurosurgical patients without intracranial hypertention

: Xenon assures rapid awakening and stable hemodynamics, it also has some neuroprotective effect. This is the reason why it may become an anesthetic of choice in neurosurgery. Still there is little and controversial data on its impact upon ICP. This is the first study of xenon effect upon intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure and cerebrovascular reactivity during xenon anesthesia in neurosurgical patients without intracranial hypertension. We report a slight increase in intracranial and a slight decrease in cerebral perfusion pressure during xenon anesthesia and show that cerebrovascular reactivity is preserved. Thus we conclude that xenon anesthesia is safe for neurosurgical patients without intracranial hypertension.