Heart rate and indirect blood pressure responses to four different field anesthetic protocols in wild born captive chimpanzees (pan troglodytes)

Abstract Limited data are available on hemodynamic responses to anesthetic protocols in wild-born chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Accordingly, this study characterized the heart rate (HR) and blood pressure responses to four anesthetic protocols in 176 clinically healthy, wild-born chimpanzees undergoing routine health assessments. Animals were anesthetized with medetomidine–ketamine (MK) (n = 101), tiletamine–zolazepam (TZ) (n = 30), tiletamine–zolazepam–medetomidine (TZM) (n = 24), or medetomidine–ketamine (maintained with isoflurane) (MKI) (n = 21). During each procedure, HR, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were regularly recorded. Data were grouped according to anesthetic protocol, and mean HR, SBP, and DBP were calculated. Differences between mean HR, SBP, and DBP for each anesthetic protocol were assessed using the Kruskall–Wallis test and a Dunn multiple comparisons post hoc analysis. To assess the hemodynamic time course response to each anesthetic protocol, group ...