Nowadays, because of increasing employment of swine for experimental studies and medical
training, it is hopeful to investigate novel and effective anaesthetic protocols for
preserving the animal welfare in medical investigation and concurrently improving the
quality of research. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate a novel and
effective anaesthetic protocol in swine undergoing major surgery, by translating know-how
of combined anaesthesia from human protocols. Seven landrace swine were anaesthetized for
three hours by a combined trial anaesthetic protocol (sedation: medetomidine,
acepromazine, atropine and tramadol; induction: propofol, medetomidine and acepromazine;
anaesthesia: isofluorane, propofol, medetomidine and acepromazine) and both clinical and
haemodynamic parameters were compared with those of five swine anaesthetized with a
control protocol (sedation: diazepam, ketamine and atropina; induction: diazepam and
ketamine; anaesthesia: isofluorane). Both cardiac frequency (CF) and mean blood pressure
(MBP) were significantly (P<0.05) more stable in trial protocol (CF:
78.3 ± 4.6-81.1 ± 5, MBP: 63.9 ± 10.7-96.4 ± 13.0) compared to control protocol (CF: 93.7
± 5.5-102.5 ± 8.5, MBP: 71.0 ± 6.6-108.7 ± 7.2). The body temperature remained stable in
trial protocol (°C: 36.9 ± 0.7-37.2 ± 0.3) compared to control anaesthesia (°C: 36.4 ±
0.3-37.3 ± 0.2, P<0.05). Haematosis improved undergoing combined
anaesthesia (+2%, P<0.05) whereas did not change in control animals.
There were no differences in respiratory rate between trial and control protocols. This
study demonstrates that the proposed balanced intravenous-inhalant protocol permits to
carry out a very effective, stable and safe anaesthesia in swine undergoing deep
anaesthesia.