Ether in the developing world: rethinking an abandoned agent.

Chang, Connie Y and Goldstein, Elisabeth and Agarwal, Nitin and Swan, Kenneth G (2015) Ether in the developing world: rethinking an abandoned agent. BMC Anesthesiol, 15. 149 - ?.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The first true demonstration of ether as an inhalation anesthetic was on October 16, 1846 by William T.G. Morton, a Boston dentist. Ether has been replaced completely by newer inhalation agents and open drop delivery systems have been exchanged for complicated vaporizers and monitoring systems. Anesthesia in the developing world, however, where lack of financial stability has halted the development of the field, still closely resembles primitive anesthetics. DISCUSSION: In areas where resources are scarce, patients are often not given supplemental intraoperative analgesia. While halothane provides little analgesia, ether provides excellent intra-operative pain control that can extend for several hours into the postoperative period. An important barrier to the widespread use of ether is availability. With decreasing demand, production of the inexpensive inhalation agent has fallen. Ether is inexpensive to manufacture, and encouraging increased production at a local level would help developing nations to cut costs and become more self-sufficient.

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Details

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
Creators/Authors:	Creators Email Pitt Username ORCID Chang, Connie Y Goldstein, Elisabeth Agarwal, Nitin nitin.agarwal@pitt.edu AGARWALN Swan, Kenneth G
Date:	6 October 2015
Date Type:	Acceptance
Journal or Publication Title:	BMC Anesthesiol
Volume:	15
Page Range:	149 - ?
DOI or Unique Handle:	10.1186/s12871-015-0128-3
Schools and Programs:	School of Medicine > Neurological Surgery
Refereed:	Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Anesthetics, Inhalation, Developing Countries, Ether, History, 19th Century, Humans, Pain, Postoperative
Date Deposited:	09 Aug 2016 20:06
Last Modified:	25 Mar 2024 21:55
URI:	http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29057

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