GasGasGas - Anaesthetic Science for the FRCA Exams GasGasGas - Desflurane + An Intro To Vapourisers
Dec 12, 2025
Dive into the fascinating world of desflurane, a volatile agent that faces decommissioning due to its environmental impact. Explore its chemistry, boiling point, and clinical implications like onset and dosing. Discover the mechanisms of action and the systemic effects it can have, from vasodilation to respiratory changes. Get insights into vaporizers, their components, and the importance of temperature compensation. Plus, learn about the use and monitoring of these devices to ensure safety in clinical settings.
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Desflurane's Environmental Impact
- Desflurane has extremely high global warming potential and is being decommissioned in many UK settings.
- Removing desflurane vaporizers reduces use and can meaningfully lower environmental impact.
Fast Kinetics But High MAC
- Desflurane is a fluorinated ethylmethyl ether with low blood solubility and high MAC.
- It gives rapid onset/offset but requires higher end-tidal concentrations compared with sevoflurane or isoflurane.
Receptors Over Lipids
- Volatile anaesthetics act on CNS receptors (GABA-A, glycine, NMDA) rather than only lipid membrane expansion.
- This receptor modulation explains many anaesthetic effects more plausibly than older theories.