Anesthesiology
-
The caffeine-halothane contracture test (CHCT) is the only recognized laboratory test to diagnose malignant hyperthermia (MH). The authors report the results of their analysis of pooled data from the North American Malignant Hyperthermia Registry database to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the CHCT. ⋯ The CHCT achieves high sensitivity and acceptable specificity as a clinical laboratory diagnostic test when it is performed according to published standards. However, it cannot be used as a screening test because of the low prevalence of MH in the general population.
-
Multicenter Study
Absence of biochemical evidence for renal and hepatic dysfunction after 8 hours of 1.25 minimum alveolar concentration sevoflurane anesthesia in volunteers.
Sevoflurane is degraded by carbon dioxide absorbents to a difluorovinyl ether (compound A) that can cause renal and hepatic injury in rats. The present study applied sensitive markers of renal and hepatic function to determine the safety of prolonged (8 h), high concentration (3% end-tidal) sevoflurane anesthesia in human volunteers. ⋯ Prolonged (8 h), high concentration (3%) sevoflurane anesthesia administered to volunteers in a fresh gas flow of 2 l/min does not result in clinically significant changes in biochemical markers of renal or hepatic dysfunction.