When they [--1--] you into the operating room, climate change is probably the last thing on your mind. But maybe it should be on your anesthesiologist’s mind. Because the gases used to knock you out contribute to global warming.
Researchers, including one from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech, a chemist from the University of Copenhagen and an anesthesiologist from the University of Michigan Medical School, studied three [--2--] gases: isoflurane, desflurane and sevoflurane.
The compounds are in a class of gases related to a [--3--] that’s about to be banned in Europe. In the worst case each pound of desflurane that enters the atmosphere is the equivalent of 1,620 pounds of carbon dioxide. The researchers say that on average the amount of anesthesia used worldwide for surgery annually has the warming [--4--] of one million cars. The study is in the British Journal of Anaesthesia.
The other two gases have [--5--] less impact: isoflurane is only a third as powerful a greenhouse gas as is desflurane and sevoflurance has only an eighth of desflurane’s effect. So, say the researchers, if a choice can be safely made, anesthesiologists should go with the one that’s kindest to the climate.
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
wheel anesthetic refrigerant equivalent significantly
麻醉师的选择 当他们把你推进手术室时，你可能压根儿就不会想到气候变化。但这点确实你的麻醉医生应该考虑到的问题。应为把你放倒的气体正是促进温室效应的“功臣”。 加州理工学院气体喷进实验室的一位研究人员，哥本哈根大学的一位药剂师和密歇根大学医学院的一个麻醉师研究了三种麻醉气体：异氟烷、地氟烷和七氟烷。 这些化合物是一种欧洲即将禁止的制冷剂的同族气体。最糟糕的情况下，进入大气后的地氟烷，一磅可抵1620磅的二氧化碳。研究人员表示平均每年全球手术时使用的麻醉剂量造成的温室效应相当于一百万辆汽车。该项研究发表在英国期刊《麻醉术》上。 另外两种气体产生的影响就小得多。异氟烷所产生的温室效应仅有地氟烷的三分之一，七氟烷仅有八分之一。所以，研究人员认为，在保证安全的情况下，麻醉师们应当选择最气候最有利的气体。