Anesthesiology

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In an otherwise excellent and long-overdue review of anesthesiology, Wiklund and Rosenbaum (Oct. 16 and 23 issues)1 have included several errors. Their discussion of halothane, in the section on inhalational anesthetics in part 1, states, “Hepatotoxicity has not been reported in children.” In fact, halothane hepatitis has been reported in children, although it is generally agreed that the incidence in children is lower than that in adults.2 The authors also state, “Desflurane is highly fluorinated, nearly as insoluble as nitrous oxide, and as potent as isoflurane.” One of the minor disadvantages of desflurane is that it is the least potent of any of our modern anesthetics, with a minimal anesthetic concentration (expressed as a percentage of 1 atmosphere) of 7.2 percent in young adults as compared with 1.19 percent with isoflurane.3