LOW-FLOW ANESTHESIA TECHNIQUES

It is a strange contradiction that increasingly sophisticated anaesthesia machines are developed meeting all requirements for rebreathing techniques and the highest safety standards, but the usual anaesthetic management is still based on the use of fresh gas flows that preclude substantial rebreathing. The advantages of rebreathing can only be realised if low-flow anaesthesia techniques are adopted. Increasing acceptance of these methods is due to the availability of comprehensive anaesthetic gas monitoring. Different techniques of low-flow anaesthesia, the characteristic features, technical requirements, and considerations concerning their performance and contraindications are discussed. This paper presents a topic that is left unmentioned by most anaesthesia textbooks. The use of new inhalational anaesthetics such as desflurane that require comparatively high concentrations, or even xenon, will motivate to sparing use. Increasingly stringent health and safety regulations as well as sharpened ecological awareness will prompt anaesthetists to minimise all anaesthetic gas emission according to the possibilities of available equipment. Last but not least, the demand for economical working methods will be an argument for applying low-flow anaesthesia techniques.