Comparison of heart rate and blood pressure in children with halothane and isoflurane induction

General anesthesia induction by inhalation is still often performed in the pediatric population. Halothane, the most widely used inhalation anesthetic through the decades, has for some time been replaced with new ones, including isoflurane, which was the first implemented in our hospital. We have extensive experience with isoflurane, so in this article we compared noninvasive haemodinamic parameters between halothane and isoflurane during the induction of anesthesia. Although the heart rate and systolic pressure values were slightly higher when using isoflurane than with halothane, the difference was of no statistical significance. Diastolic pressure values were a bit lower in the isofluran group, but also statistically insignificant. We believe, the results could be related to the pharmacological properties of isoflurane: the unpleasant odour; the more potent systemic vasodilatator.