Inhalational anaesthetic agent consumption within a multidisciplinary veterinary teaching hospital: an environmental audit.

Elzahaby, Dany; Mirra, Alessandro; Levionnois, Olivier; Spadavecchia, Claudia (2024). Inhalational anaesthetic agent consumption within a multidisciplinary veterinary teaching hospital: an environmental audit. Scientific Reports, 14(17973) Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/s41598-024-68157-5

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Inhalational anaesthetic agents are routinely used in veterinary anaesthesia practices, yet their consumption contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact. We conducted a 55-day observational study at a veterinary teaching hospital in Switzerland, monitoring isoflurane and sevoflurane consumption across small, equine and farm animal clinics and analysed the resulting environmental impact. Results revealed that in total, 9.36 L of isoflurane and 1.27 L of sevoflurane were used to anaesthetise 409 animals across 1,489 h. Consumption rates varied among species, with small and farm animals ranging between 8.7 and 13 mL/h, while equine anaesthesia exhibited a higher rate, 41.2 mL/h. Corresponding to 7.36 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in total environmental emissions or between 2.4 and 31.3 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per hour. Comparison to human anaesthesia settings showed comparable consumption rates to small animals, suggesting shared environmental implications, albeit on a smaller scale. This research highlights the importance of continued evaluation of veterinary anaesthesia practices to balance patient safety with environmental stewardship; potential mitigation strategies are explored and discussed.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine (DKV)
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine (DKV) > DKV - Anaesthesiology

UniBE Contributor:

Elzahaby, Dany Hamdy Maurice, Mirra, Alessandro, Levionnois, Olivier, Spadavecchia, Claudia

Subjects:

600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

2045-2322

Publisher:

Nature Publishing Group

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pubmed Import

Date Deposited:

05 Aug 2024 13:14

Last Modified:

06 Aug 2024 15:28

Publisher DOI:

10.1038/s41598-024-68157-5

PubMed ID:

39095518

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Anaesthesia Climate Environment Inhalant Sustainability Veterinary

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/199464

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/199464

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