Surgical Anesthetic Gases Also Contribute To Global Warming

Atmosphere scientists have warned that anesthetic gases that are conveniently used during surgeries have a global warming potential.

These gases are as harmful for the environment as a refrigerant, yet they are not reported along with other greenhouse gasses such as CO2, refrigerants and laughing gas.

General Anesthesia - Risks, Post Operative Recovery & Complications
General anesthesia is treatment with medications that induce a state of deep sleep and unconsciousness in the patient in order to be pain free during surgery.

University of Copenhagen researchers and NASA scientists found that one-kilo of anesthetic gas affects the climate as much as 1620 kilos of CO2.

"We studied three different gasses in regular use for anesthesia, and they're not equally harmful," said Ole John Nielsen of the University of Copenhagen.

All three are worse than CO2 but where the mildest ones Isoflurane and Sevoflurane have global warming potentials of 210 and 510 respectively, Desflurane the most harmful will cause 1620 times as much global warming as an equal amount of CO2, he explained.

Local Anesthesia - Indications, Advantages, Adverse Effects & Contraindications
Local anesthesia is a type of anesthesia generally used to block pain sensation only in a specific area of the body that needs to be anesthestized.

The study was published in the journal British Journal of Anaestecia.

Source-ANI

Spinal Anesthesia - Indications, Advantages, Disadvantages, Complications & Side Effects
Spinal anesthesia, a form of regional anesthesia involves the injection of certain anesthetic drugs into a fluid-filled space in which the spinal cord and the nerves arising from it are suspended using a fine long needle.

Health Effects of Global Warming
Greenhouse effect causes excessive heat to build up in the earth’s atmosphere causing global warming and affects the environment and health.