Xenon anesthesia: clinical results and recycling of gas

Xenon has been proposed as an effective inhalational agent. Up to now, problems of cost have prevented its clinical use. In this study, 15 patients undergoing abdominal surgery received a low flow or a totally closed circuit anesthesia with a gas mixture xenon/oxygen 70:30, in order to determine xenon expenditure and to validate a recycling system of the gas. The patients received on average a dose of fentanyl about 40-45% less than that described in the literature for a gas mixture of nitrous oxide/xenon 70:30, as a result of the good analgesic effect of xenon. Xenon expenditure data showed a low consumption after the filling of the circuit. The percentage recovered was about 60% of pure xenon and more than 90% of xenon in a gas mixture xenon-oxygen 70:30. Xenon anesthesia cost is now acceptable.