Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 9, 424-432, Copyright © 1962 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

A Clinical Study of Methyl-N-propyl Ether (Neothyl®)

¹ Women's College Hospital, Department of Anaesthesia, Toronto, Ontario

Methyl-n-propyl ether was used to anaesthetize 155 obstetrical patients and 49 surgical patients. The obstetrical procedures were of all types except Caesarean Section, and the surgical procedures included operations on the extremities and perineum, and eight abdominal operations. In these abdominal operations, methyl-n-propyl ether was used as an adjunct to the thiopentone – nitrous oxide – relaxant sequence, whereas it was the principal anaesthetic agent in the obstetrical cases.

Both closed and semi-closed systems were used. All surgical patients had received the usual premedication one hour beforehand and anaesthesia was induced with thiopentone. Premedication for the obstetrical patients was very variable. Some received no atropine but this proved to be no disadvantage since secretions were not troublesome during induction.

In most cases induction, anaesthesia, and recovery were uneventful, but improperly sedated obstetrical patients proved difficult to anaesthetize.

Vomiting was not frequent enough to be a problem. Infants were not born depressed, the averageApgar rating being 8.46.

A slightly increased incidence of difficulty in the third stage is shown in this series and the influence of methyl-n-propyl ether cannot be completely exonerated.