Articles: anesthesia.
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Editorial Review
Towards sustainability of volatile anaesthetics: capture and beyond.
The first measures to reduce the environmental harm from volatile anaesthetics are implementation of minimal fresh gas flow strategies and avoidance of desflurane. Although anaesthetic waste gas capture systems generally exert high capturing efficiencies, only about half of volatile anaesthetics used in the operating room are accessible for capture. Industry-sponsored reports promise a reduction of the global warming potential by both incineration and recycling of captured volatile anaesthetics. However, independent high-quality peer-reviewed studies are needed to confirm these findings.
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Editorial Review
The safety of nitrous oxide: glass half-full or half-empty?
A systematic review of clinical trials confirms that including nitrous oxide in the gas mixture for general anaesthesia has minor short-term benefits and does not impact most patient safety outcomes. However, no risk-benefit analysis of nitrous oxide should ignore its known environmental effects. If continued nitrous oxide use is supported, strategies to minimise and monitor the contribution of medical nitrous oxide to global warming are vital.