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Article: Biological monitoring of occupational exposure to enflurane (ethrane) in operating room personnel.
- Article from:
- Archives of Environmental Health
- Article date:
- March 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE BIOLOGICAL CHANGES and the adverse effects produced by the main inhalation anesthetics have been studied mostly in experimental animals; human studies have mainly dealt with patients receiving presurgical anesthesia. Studies are lacking on subjects chronically exposed to these substances for occupational reasons.[1] Enflurane (ethrane; CAS 13838-16-9), alone or in combination with nitrous oxide ([N.sub.2]O), is used widely as general inhalation anesthetic. Occupationally exposed groups include anesthesiologists, other physicians (e.g., surgeons), and operating room nurses.
Enflurane has structural analogies with bis-chloromethyl ether, which is very ...