title: A survey on the use of low flow anaesthesia and the choice of inhalational anaesthetic agents among anaesthesiologists of India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  With the availability of modern workstations and heightened awareness on the environmental effects of waste anaesthesia gases, anaesthesiologists worldwide are practicing low flow anaesthesia (LFA). Although LFA is being practiced in India, hard evidence on the current practice of the same from anaesthesiologists practicing in India is lacking and hence, we conducted this survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire containing 16 questions was distributed among a subgroup of anaesthesiologists who attended the 2014 National Conference of Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists. The filled-in questionnaires were computed and analysed with SPSS version 11.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate to the survey was 82%. About 73% of the respondents practiced LFA routinely, with 65% having workstations. Most of the anaesthesiologists used fresh gas flows <1.5 L/min with 45.1% using O2concentrations at a range of 30-40%. ETCO2monitoring was used routinely by most whereas use of agent analysers and bispectral index monitoring were restricted. The availability of scavenging system was also limited to only 33.5%. Majority preferred N2O as carrier gas and sevoflurane as volatile agent of their choice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our survey revealed that practice of LFA in India has numerous lacunae. Provision of better monitoring facilities, workstations as well as awareness regarding the environmental issues of waste anaesthetic gases need to be addressed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Rajasree Omanakutty
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Amma
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Subha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ravindran
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Rachel Cherian
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Koshy
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Jagathnath Krishna
keywords: Inhalational anaesthetic agents; low flow anaesthesia; survey