title: Ether in the developing world: rethinking an abandoned agent.
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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, 07101-1709, USA. cchang27@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Connie Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Swan
mesh_terms: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution; D003906:Developing Countries; D004986:Ether / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D004986:Ether