Coronary Blood Flow Regulation During General Anesthesia

The central hypothesis in the present project is that general anesthesia may alter autonomic control such that perioperative coronary blood flow (CBF) is significantly disturbed. These disturbances in coronary blood flow may contribute to the development of myocardial ischemia in the perioperative period. Furthermore, patients with an intrinsically altered autonomic sympathetic innervation, like diabetics, are even more prone to develop perioperative disturbances in coronary blood flow. Here the researchers will investigate what the direct effects are of general and locoregional anesthesia on the CBF. Furthermore, the researchers aim to evaluate whether diabetic subjects show more disturbed CBF responses to anesthesia as compared to non-diabetics.