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Xenon expenditure and nitrogen accumulation in closed‐circuit anaesthesia
Author(s) -
Reinelt H.,
Marx T.,
Schirmer U.,
Schmidt M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2044.2001.01715.x
Subject(s) - medicine , closed circuit , xenon , anesthesia , nitrogen , electrical engineering , engineering , physics , atomic physics , quantum mechanics
The high price of xenon has prevented its use in routine, clinic anaesthetic practice. Xenon therefore has to be delivered by closed‐circuit anaesthesia. The accumulation of nitrogen is a significant problem within the closed circuit and necessitates flushing, which in turn increases gas expenditure and costs. In previous investigations, nitrogen concentrations between 12% and 16% have been reported in closed‐circuit anaesthesia. In order to avoid such nitrogen accumulation, we denitrogenised seven pigs using a non‐rebreathing system and connected the animals to a system primed with a xenon/oxygen mixture. In comparison, seven pigs were anaesthetised with xenon using a standard low‐flow anaesthetic procedure. Anaesthesia time was 2 h. Nitrogen concentrations in the closed system ranged from 0.08 to 7.04% and were not significantly different from those observed during low‐flow anaesthesia. Closed‐circuit anaesthesia reduced the xenon expenditure 10‐fold compared with low‐flow anaesthesia.