Xenon washout during in-vitro extracorporeal circulation using different oxygenators.
BACKGROUND
Xenon anesthesia is known to have no adverse influence on myocardial contractility and cardiocirculatory function even in cardiac compromised patients. To make use of this advantages for cardiac surgery patients undergoing extracorporeal circulation (ECC) it must be known if oxygenators are diffusible for xenon in order to avoid losses of the very expensive noble gas.


METHODS
Xenon saturated blood was recirculated in an in-vitro ECC. In 8 experiments four common oxygenators were investigated using continuous mass spectrometry at the exhaust port to measure xenon concentrations in the exspired gas.


RESULTS
Xenon concentrations at the exhaust port of the oxygenator increased during filling the oxygenator with blood. Peak level was detected within one minute after onset of ECC. No xenon could be measured two minutes after onset of ECC.


CONCLUSIONS
Using common oxygenators xenon is eliminated during ECC and lost into the atmosphere. To maintain anesthesia during ECC continuous xenon application would be necessary to compensate these losses. Due to its high price it would be too expensive to continue xenon anesthesia during ECC. Therefore it is not practicable to use the today's oxygenators and ECC equipment in xenon anesthesia.
Schirmer
Uwe
U
Department of Cardiac Anesthesia , University of Ulm, D-89075 Ulm, Germany.
Reinelt
Helmut
H
Erber
Matthias
M
Schmidt
Michael
M
Marx
Thomas
T
D000758:Anesthesia; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D005112:Extracorporeal Circulation; D006801:Humans; D010106:Oxygenators; D014978:Xenon
D014978:Xenon