Anest. intenziv. Med. 2010;21(3):134-139

Xenon inhalational anaesthesia in volunteersAnaesthesiology - Original Paper

Török Pavol^1,*, Hermely Albert¹, Sopko Imrich¹, Čandík Peter¹, Saladiak Stanislav¹, Sýkora René¹, Májek Milan²

¹ OAIM VÚSCH, a. s., Košice

² KAIM SZU, FNsP - Dérerova nemocnica, Bratislava

Objective:
We describe the first experimental administration of xenon inhalational anaesthesia in volunteers. The primary aim was administering a short inhalational xenon anaesthesia and learning the technique and technology of its administration. The secondary aim was observing objective physiological and laboratory parameters and the subjective feelings of the subjects who had undergone the anaesthesia.
Setting:
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Medicine.

Design:
Clinical experiment (Approval No. 21082009 of the Ethical Committee).

Materials and methods:
The objective effects of xenon anaesthesia on the physiological variables and laboratory tests and its subjective perception until the loss of consciousness by the subjects were tested in a group of 5 volunteers. Two subjects reached the first two depth levels of anaesthesia and the remaining subjects reached levels 3 and 4 of xenon anaesthesia. All the subjects were monitored and managed in a standard fashion.

Results:
The laboratory tests were performed prior to and 15 minutes after the anaesthesia. There were no significant differences found in the results before and after the anaesthesia. No result exceeded the normal range. Blood pressure and heart rate were stable, without significant changes, during the course of anaesthesia. Ventilatory parameters showed minor changes, the heart rate decreased and breathing became temporarily deeper but after reaching anaesthesia depth-levels 3 and 4, all the parameters became normal again. SpO2 was stable, oscillating between 97 and 100%, ETCO2 reached 4.6-5.2 kPa. The authors evaluated the subjective perception by the anaesthetized persons at the moments when xenon concentration in the airways reached a relatively stable concentration at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%.

Conclusion:
This experiment is one of the first ones in the field of gaining technical skills and experience in performing xenon anaesthesia. For the volunteers, all of whom are anaesthetists, this was a unique personal experience. The authors expect early implementation of xenon anaesthesia into their clinical anaesthetic practice in indicated cases.

Keywords: xenon; inhalational anaesthesia

Published: June 1, 2010  Show citation