Green Anesthesia

As much as 4.4% of global greenhouse gases are caused by the health sector.¹ And of the total emissions of hospitals, 2% are due to volatile anesthetics.² Anesthetic gases have been widely administered during surgery for many years. But volatile anesthetics can also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and potential climate change.

Considering general anesthetics are administered to approximately 50 million patients each year in the U.S., with a vast majority of those employing halogenated inhalational agents (sevoflurane, desflurane and isoflurane) and non-halogenated agents (nitrous oxide), the impact of inhaled anesthetics pollution is substantial.³  Inhaled anesthetic gases, which are exhausted directly to the atmosphere, are estimated to account for 5% of acute hospital CO2e emissions and 50% of perioperative department emissions in high-income countries.⁴  

With the "Inhaled Anesthetic 2020 Challenge", the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is calling for a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from anesthetics. The DGAI and the BDA are also addressing the issue. Together they have published a position paper with concrete recommendations for action. 

Clinical practice shows that the use of low- and minimal-flow anesthesia can be safely and easily integrated into daily routine. "The safety and technical performance of today's anesthesia machines make low-flow, minimal-flow and metabolic-flow anesthesia the procedures of choice". This is the conclusion of Bert Mierke, MD, and PD Christian Hönemann, MD, convinced low-flow advocates and authors of the booklet "Low-Flow, Minimal-Flow and Metabolic-Flow Anaesthesias - Clinical Techniques for the Use of Rebreather Systems".

This booklet contains further information and practical tips for the safe use of low flow anesthesia.

As your specialist in critical care, we provide holistic support in the implementation of environmentally conscious anesthesia - from modern anesthesia equipment for the implementation of safe low-flow anesthesia to analysis software for comprehensive analysis of gas consumption and decision support in the procurement of consumables.