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Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 46, 567-570, Copyright © 1999 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

ARTICLES

Factitious halothane detection during trigger-free anesthesia in a malignant hyperthermia susceptible patient

CA Hawkes
Department of Anesthesiology, Queen's University, Kingston General Hospital, Ontario. chawk@nb.sympatico.ca

PURPOSE: To discuss the problems encountered when halothane was detected in a presumed 'clean' patient circuit during the 'trigger-free' anesthetic management of a known Malignant Hyperthermia Susceptible (MHS) patient for routine orthopedic surgery. CLINICAL FEATURES: A 29-yr-old MHS woman had a wrist arthroscopy/exploration/fusion under general anesthesia. During the course of the 'trigger-free' anesthetic the respiratory gas analyser detected end-tidal halothane in the patient circuit. The patient was disconnected from the circuit as attempts to identify the source of the readings were undertaken. After ruling out the presence of halothane by various clinical manoeuvre the patient was reconnected to the circuit without sequelae. CONCLUSION: By exclusion the problem was presumed to be a factitious reading resulting from the respiratory gas analyser incorrectly identifying patient-expired methane as halothane.




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Copyright © 1999 by the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society.