BACKGROUND: Our study compared the myocardiac protective effect of propofol vs. sevoflurane in pediatric patients receiving living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) surgery.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We randomly and equally divided 120 children who underwent LDLT into a sevoflurane group and a propofol group. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were collected and compared between the 2 groups. The concentrations of cTnI, CK-MB, IL-6, TNF-α, and HMGB1 at 5 min after induction (T0), 30 min in the anhepatic period (T1), and 3 h after reperfusion (T2), and at the end of surgery (T3) were measured.

RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in the characteristics of children in the 2 groups. Compared with T0, the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α at T1, T2, and T3 were higher, while the HMGB1 at T2 and T3 were higher (P<0.05). A similar trend for IL-6, TNF-α, and HMGB1 at different time points in the 2 groups was observed. Compared with T0, the cTnI and CK-MB at T2 and T3 were significantly higher (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference at different time points in the 2 groups. For the adverse events, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that the cardioprotective effect in pediatric patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation is similar with propofol and sevoflurane anesthesia.

Keywords: Anesthetics, Inhalation, Hospitals, Pediatric, Liver Transplantation, Myocardial Ischemia, Propofol, Anesthetics, Intravenous, Cardiomyopathies, Child, Creatine Kinase, MB Form, HMGB1 Protein, Interleukin-6, Living Donors, sevoflurane, troponin I