Drawover vaporizers for sedation in intensive care.
OBJECTIVE
We have undertaken a laboratory study to determine whether a drawover vaporizer in the inspiratory limb of an intensive care ventilator circuit can produce safe and therapeutic concentrations of isoflurane.


METHODS
An Oxford Miniature Vaporizer (OMV) and Ohmeda TEC vaporizer were assessed over the range of inspired isoflurane concentrations, airway pressures and tidal volumes experienced in the ICU.


CONCLUSIONS
The experimental findings suggest that the OMV inhaler in plenum mode can be relied upon to produce safe concentrations of isoflurane over a clinically useful range of inspired concentrations. Furthermore, it behaves predictably over the range of airway pressures likely to be encountered in the patient admitted with acute severe asthma. However, we found that the Ohmeda TEC vaporizer did not perform reliably in this setting.
McIndoe
A K
AK
Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford), U.K. 100756.3126@compuserve.com
Stewart
P
P
Wilson
I H
IH
D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003422:Critical Care; D006801:Humans; D007530:Isoflurane / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009330:Nebulizers and Vaporizers
D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D007530:Isoflurane