COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DYNAMICS OF CARDIOVASCULAR AND RESPIRATORY EFFECTS OF PNEUMOPERITONEUM BASED ON CARBON DIOXIDE AND ARGON IN LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY
Authors: Tkachuk O. L. , Parakhoniak R. L. , Melnyk S. V. , Tkachuk-Hryhorchuk O. O. 
Published: December 2021

Pneumoperitoneum is one of the most critical components of laparoscopic surgery, which has a negative effect on gas exchange and stress to circulatory buffering system. One of the top priorities of laparoscopic technologies is to minimize the impact on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, metabolic dynamics and compensatory abilities of homeostasis.

The main goal of this research work is to compare the effects of carboxyperitoneum and argonoperitoneum on the intraoperative dynamics of CO2 concentration as well as cardiovascular and respiratory characteristics in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy for various forms of cholelithiasis.

Materials and methods. Four experimental groups involved patients based on their nosological form of cholelithiasis and the gas used to induce pneumoperitoneum. All patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy by means of standard procedure. Either medical carbon dioxide or medical argon was used to induce pneumoperitoneum. Intraoperative monitoring of blood carbon dioxide levels PaCO2 was performed by taking venous blood every 15 minutes. Capnometry was performed by means of mainstream analysis using “BIOMED” BM1000C modular patient monitor by recording the discrete values of PetCO2 every 15 minutes, as well as by analyzing photocopies of capnography curves every 15 minutes.

Intraoperative echocardiography was performed to identify the mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR) and cardiac output (CO) in order to assess the effects of different types of pneumoperitoneum on the cardiovascular system.

Results. The obtained data confirm the expected difference in the indices of cardiorespiratory functions between patients with acute cholecystitis and cholelithiasis without signs of inflammation. The investigation revealed that under the influence of pneumoperitoneum, heart rate and mean arterial pressure increase, while the cardiac output decreases. The respiratory pressure marker depends more on the intra-abdominal pressure and presumably the patient’s body type than on the presence of inflammatory syndrome. Argon insufflation has a slight negative impact on the cardiovascular system. Particularly, the mean arterial pressure and heart rate increase, while the cardiac output marker is less decreased as compared to the use of carbon dioxide. Abdominal pressure has a significant effect on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems regardless of the used type of gas. The combination of high intra-abdominal pressure with the elevated head end of the operating table, which is a common practise during cholecystectomy, has especially great influence on cardiovascular and respiratory functions. Operation which is carried out at decreased pressure allows reducing the deviations of practically all indices.

Conclusions. Thus, the cardiovascular and respiratory systems adapt under the influence of pneumoperitoneum, providing compensation for the negative effects of mechanical and resorptive-metabolic character. Compensatory-adaptive abilities of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems increase with the decrease of intra-abdominal pressure. The use of argon as a working gas for insufflation into the abdominal cavity during laparoscopy reduces the negative impact of pneumoperitoneum on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, providing a greater reserve of homeostatic and buffer systems of the body.