Anesthesic Gases May be Impacting Earth's Temperatures

It turns out that the gases used to knock out surgery patients may just be impacting the Earth's atmosphere. Scientists have discovered that these gases are accumulating and that they could make a small contribution to climate change.

Anesthesia gases allow the atmosphere to store more energy from the sun, rather like carbon dioxide. Unlike CO2, though, the medical gases are far more potent in their greenhouse-gas effects.

In fact, 2.2 pounds of desflurane is equivalent to about 5,512 pounds of carbon dioxide in terms of the amount of greenhouse warming potential. That's why researchers decided to take a closer look at these gases to see how potent they actually were.

The scientists found that the 2014 atmospheric concentration of desflurane was .3 parts per trillion (ppt). Isoflurane, sevoflurane and halothane came in at .097 ppt, .13 ppt and .0092 ppt, respectively. Carbon dioxide, however, is about a billion times more abundant than even the most prevalent of these anesthetics.

Even so, their potency is certainly worth noting. The researchers used a two-dimensional computer model of atmospheric transport and chemistry to get a better idea of global emissions estimates. While these anesthetics are small players in overall human-generated greenhouse emissions, they could be a growing matter of concern to many in the healthcare industry; anesthesia gas abundances are growing over time.

"What the report fails to note is that a major factor determining the environmental effect is the manner in which the anesthetics are used," said Edmond Eger, an anesthesiologist, in a news release. "Many anesthetists deliver sevoflurane or isovlurane in a two-three liters per minute flow but deliver desflurane in a lower flow--.5 to one liter per minute...some believe that desflurane has clinical advantages that argue for its continued use."

The findings show that the healthcare industry should be aware of this particular issue, especially as the use of these gases increases.

The findings are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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