Abstract
Monitoring arterial blood pressure (BP), represents a more accurate evaluation of hemodynamics than heart rate alone and is essential for preventing and treating intra- and post-operative complications in wildlife chemical immobilization.The objectives of the study were to test the correlation between standard oscillometry and Korotkoff's technique in anesthetized free-ranging brown bears in Croatia and Scandinavia and to assess the blood pressure in both locations.Five bears were snared and darted with xylazine and ketamine in Croatia, and 20 bears were darted from a helicopter with medetomidine and tiletamine-zolazepam in Scandinavia. Blood pressure was simultaneously measured with both techniques every 5 minutes. Correlation between techniques, trends of BP variation, and the factors of the capture which likely influenced BP were assessed.Successful measurements of BP were achieved in 93% of all attempts with the Korotkoff's technique but in only 29% of all attempts with oscillometry. The latter method mostly provided lower values of BP compared to Korotkoff's technique in yearlings. Most bears showed a decreasing trend in systolic and mean BP over time, consistent between the two techniques. All bears were hypertensive: the auscultatory technique detected moderate to severe systolic hypertension in 25% and 84% of bears in Croatia and in Scandinavia, respectively, with significantly higher BP in subadults and adults compared to yearlings. Only Korotkoff's method resulted in a reliable and effective tool for BP assessment in brown bears. The anesthetic protocols used in the present study in association with the capture methods produced hypertension in all animals.
Highlights
Arterial blood pressure (BP), which is strictly connected to heart rate (HR), stroke volume and systemic vascular resistance, provides a better overview of the cardiovascular status of anesthetized patients, compared to HR alone
The free-ranging brown bears were successfully anesthetized with a single dart dose during 23 of 25 captures in both countries and the time of recumbency occurred within 10–26 min and within 2–39 min after receiving the first dart in considered from the activation of the trap (Croatia) and in Scandinavia, respectively
Korotkoff's technique for non-invasive BP monitoring has been successfully performed on free-ranging brown bears, providing evidence of overall good repeatability and feasibility to be carried out in field conditions
Summary
Arterial blood pressure (BP), which is strictly connected to heart rate (HR), stroke volume and systemic vascular resistance, provides a better overview of the cardiovascular status of anesthetized patients, compared to HR alone. To date, no studies assessed the precision, accuracy and reliability of BP monitoring in anesthetized brown bears by using the Korotkoff's technique, which is routinely performed in hospital settings in human medicine (Canzanello et al, 2001; Carlson et al, 2019). This technique, when performed by an expert listener, is considered to be the most accurate non-invasive method, and is accepted as a reference standard for assessing the accuracy of other non-invasive BP methods. ⁎ It refers to MAP increases. ⁎⁎ It is based on the last MAP recorded value at the end of the monitoring time, just before anesthetic reversal
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