Showing papers by "Hospital for Sick Children published in 1968"

Practical policy for non-explosive anaesthesia.

Abstract: Every anaesthetist knows that the use of any flammable anaesthetic agent involves the risk of fire or explosion. There is sometimes a danger that this risk may be underestimated because mishaps are so rarely reported, with the result that the risk is mistakenly regarded as negligible. Some doctors, both surgeons and anaesthetists, may nevertheless believe that for certain patients the medical risk in the use of an anaesthetic can be reduced through selection of one of the explosive agents that have served them well for so long. It is their patient and they have the final responsibility. We beheve they must have the opportunity to balance the risks and choose the alternative they believe will provide the least risk. On the other hand, with modern anaesthetic training, better monitoring of patients under anaesthesia, and better equipment, and in view of the wider range of non-explosive agents now available, the routine use of flammable agents is no longer either justified or advisable. Few events could be more disastrous than a lethal explosion in a healthy child undergoing routine surgery.