Trichlorethylene anaesthesia for experimental surgery with cats

Abstract

H. H. MACAI:rrNEY, M.B., r'.~.c.~.(c),, AND if,. W. J.A-CKSONw TFIE PROBLEMS associated with anaesthesia in src. all arlimals often do not appear until extensive surgical procedures are carried 9ut aild mortality occurs. Even then the mortality is likely to be attributed to th ~ surgery rather than the anaesthetic, and the suitability .of the species of arimal lused for the experimenfs planned may be questioned. Modern anaesthetic :echniques and agents are sometimes dismissed because they may require the s ~rvic~s of an anaesthetist, of-teh not available in the experimental laboratory, and ~_oo oJdten techniques are applied blindly without regard to the possibility of spei~'ies aifference. Barbiturates are used as the sole anaesthetic agent because of thelease 9f ad~inist~ation, but such techniques would result in a high morbidity and mortality if they were applied in man.Surprisingly little appears in the literature ~vith ~egard to anaesthesia for experimental animals, and as a result unnecessal T mortality occurs as techniques are evolved by trial and error.Although this is not a critical study of anaes~etie agents, this paper describes the simple technique employed using triclalor6thyle~e as the agent in fairly standard, though often quite extensive, gastricIphyslological experiments with cats. It contrasts this technique with those used previously , which had a much higher mortality, probably resulting from the hypoven~ilation and cardiovascular depression which often occurred.In this series an anaesthetic death is considered during the operation (and was not associated w~th g which the animal failed to recover consciousness befor~ Cats were used exclusively, and were gen~rallly o agents, though a few were colony-bred. An attempt wa in quarantine, usually for two weeks, and dur.i~g thi temper and pneumonitis vaccines. The operations ca construction of gastric pouches and their modifiFatioI cedures, including transthoracic, vagotomy. Mgny more than once, some as many as four times. Becau diathermy a non-explosive technique was essential. chlorethylene (Trilene| halothane (Fluothane~), p and thiopentone (Pentothal| A small experience wit in-~luded.