In vitro studies and in vivo animal experiments have shown that halogenated volatile
anesthetics have a protective effect on the ischemic myocardium. In clinical settings
however, anesthetic preconditioning may be of more interest. The aim of our study was to
evaluate the cardioprotective effect of sevoflurane in patients undergoing off-pump coronary
artery bypass surgery. We proposed that a cardioprotective effect of sevoflurane would save
myocardial function, which we measured acceleration by esophageal Doppler and cardiac index
with bolus thermodilution methods, both during brief ischemia and reperfusion.