{"id":19192,"date":"2019-05-06T11:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T19:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/effects-of-surgery-on-a-warming-planet-can-anesthesia-go-green\/"},"modified":"2019-05-06T11:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T19:12:00","slug":"effects-of-surgery-on-a-warming-planet-can-anesthesia-go-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/effects-of-surgery-on-a-warming-planet-can-anesthesia-go-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Effects Of Surgery On A Warming Planet: Can Anesthesia Go Green?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kristian Foden-Vencil<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Dr. Brian Chesebro (right), in Portland, Ore., has calculated that by simply using the anesthesia gas sevoflurane in most surgeries, instead of the similar gas desflurane, he can significantly cut the amount of global warming each procedure contributes to the environment.<\/p>\n

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Kristian Foden-Vencil\/OPB<\/p>\n

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Kristian Foden-Vencil\/OPB<\/p>\n

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It’s early morning in an operating theater at Providence Hospital<\/a> in Portland, Ore. A middle-aged woman lies on the operating table, wrapped in blankets. Surgeons are about to cut out a cancerous growth in her stomach.<\/p>\n

But first, anesthesiologist Brian Chesebro<\/a> puts her under by placing a mask over her face.<\/p>\n

“Now I’m breathing for her with this mask,” he says. “And I’m delivering sevoflurane to her through this breathing circuit.”<\/p>\n

Sevoflurane<\/a> is one of the most commonly used anesthesiology gases. The other big one is desflurane<\/a>. There are others, too, like nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas.<\/p>\n

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Whichever gas patients get, they breathe it in \u2014 but only about 5% is actually metabolized. The rest is exhaled. And to make sure the gas doesn’t knock out anyone else in the operating room, it’s sucked into a ventilation system.<\/p>\n

And then? It’s vented up and out through the roof, to mingle with other greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n

These two gases are actually fairly similar medically; sevoflurane needs to be more carefully monitored and titrated in some patients, but that’s not difficult, Chesebro says.<\/p>\n

Generally, unless there’s a reason in a particular case to use one over the other, anesthesiologists simply tend to pick one of the two gases and stick with it. Few understand that one \u2014 desflurane \u2014 is much worse for the environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And that bothered Chesebro. He grew up on a ranch in Montana that focused on sustainability. “Part of growing up on a ranch is taking care of the land and being a good steward,” he says.<\/p>\n