A Switch in How Hospitals Use Anesthesia Could Have Huge Climate Benefits
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The problem is that the most common inhalants used for general anaesthesia are nitrous oxide (or laughing gas) and desflurane. Both are greenhouse gases that can stay in the atmosphere for decades and wreak havoc on the climate (they also damage the ozone layer to boot). In fact, nitrous oxide is nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of planet-warming potential.
Desflurane’s potential is up to 3,700 worse than carbon dioxide, making it one of the most intense greenhouse gases in use. The process of using these drugs is also wasteful. When doctors administer these gases, patients inhale just 5% of them. The rest of gets sucked into a ventilation system, and then floats up into the atmosphere.
In 2009, more than one million hip and knee replacement procedures – which are usually done with general anaesthesia – were performed in the US alone. The authors calculated that if all of these were done under general anaesthetic, that would be the equivalent of nearly 247,000 lbs (112,000 kilograms) of desflurane and nearly 20,000 lbs (9,000 kilograms) of nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere. That’s equivalent to burning more than 3.2 million pounds of coal.
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in 2019, the hospital chose regional anaesthesia in those procedures whenever they could. Out of the 10,485 hip and knee replacements it carried out that year, hospital doctors gave just 4% of patients general anaesthetic. Doing so, the study found, saved the greenhouse gas equivalent of burning nearly 27,000 lbs (12,246 kilograms) of coal.
https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/06/a-switch-in-how-hospitals-use-anesthesia-could-have-huge-climate-benefits/https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/06/a-switch-in-how-hospitals-use-anesthesia-could-have-huge-climate-benefits/