Summary
This study was designed to assess operating room contamination with nitrous oxide and halothane when nitrous oxide 31/min and oxygen 2 l/min containing halothane one per cent were passed into a semiclosed circle absorber system from which the patients’ lungs were ventilated with an Ohio ventimeter through a cuffed tracheal tube, with the exhaled gas vented to the floor. The normal room ventilation did not consistently maintain levels below the suggested amounts, which are nitrous oxide 25 ppm and halothane 2 ppm. Careful daily check for and correction of high and low pressure leaks combined with the use of a Foregger scavenging device (7-351-005) and continuous wall vacuum accepting approximately 22 1/min enabled geometric mean values below the suggested levels to be achieved. The Protection Filter Foregger 7-365-001 was only effective in removing halothane and only if the plastic holder provided was radically modified. Attention is drawn to the numerous factors influencing the magnitude of contamination, aspects of controlling it, and the necessity to cope with the problem of dealing with scavenged gases and vapours.
Résumé
Le but de cette étude était ďévaluer la contamination de ľatmosphère ďune salle ďopération par des gaz anesthésiques, dans les conditions cliniques suivantes: les malades intubés et ventilés mécaniquement étaient maintenus anesthésiés au moyen ďun mélange de protoxyde ďazote (3 l/mn), ďoxygène (2 1/mn) et ďhalothane à 1 pour cent administrés en circuit semifermé.
Si ľon dirigeait les gaz expirés vers le plancher au moyen ďun tube relié à la soupape expiratoire du ventilateur mécanique, la ventilation normale de la salle n’arrivait pas à maintenir les concentrations atmosphériques de protoxyde ďazote et ďhalothane sous les limites suggérées, à savoir moins de 25 ppm pour le protoxyde ďazote et moins de 2 ppm pour ľhalothane.
On a pu obtenir des résultats inférieurs aux limites suggérées au moyen ďun système de vidange Foregger (7-351-005) relié à une succion murale de 22 1/mn. Une vérification soignée quotidienne permettait ďéliminer les fuites de gaz de notre montage anesthésique.
Le filtre à charbon Foregger (7-365-001) était efficace pour éliminer ľhalothane seulment et ceci à condition de modifier son support de plastique.
On rappelle des différents facteurs en cause dans la pollution atmosphérique des blocs opératoires par agents anesthésiques, les aspects du contrôle de cette pollution et la nécessité ďattaquer ce problème par la vidange des gaz et des vapeurs anesthésiques.
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McIntyre, J.W.R., Purdham, J.T. & Hosein, H.R. An assessment of operating room environment air contamination with nitrous oxide and halothane and some scavenging methods. Canad. Anaesth. Soc. J. 25, 499–505 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03007413
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03007413