From the Journal archives: Early clinical evaluation of enflurane: The cost of progress

摘要

Virtue RW, Lund LO, Phelps M Jr, Vogel JH, Beckwitt H, Heron M. Difluoromethyl l,l,2-trifluoro-2-chloroethyl ether as an anaesthetic agent: results with dogs, and a preliminary note on observations with man. Can Anaesth Soc J 1966; 13: 233-41. While a fluorinated compound, such as halothane, had substantial advantages over the earlier volatile agents (ether and chloroform), cardiovascular instability associated with the use of halothane was a major concern. Difluoromethyl l,l,2-trifluoro-2-chloroethyl ether (enflurane) was developed in the early 1960s with some promising anesthetic properties. The goal of a series of experiments conducted by R.W. Virtue et aVs research group was to determine the efficacy and safety of enflurane for general anesthesia in animals and humans. The first set of experiments involved investigating the anesthetic effects of enflurane and the resulting physiological changes in dogs, including organ toxicity and biochemical alterations following enflurane anesthesia in some of these dogs. In a separate set of experiments using four dogs, the comparative anesthetic effects (including enzyme changes) of halothane, methoxyflurane, fluroxene, and enflurane were determined using a Latin square design.