Posted on 06/17/2020 12:44:41 PM PDT by qam1
Using local instead of general anaesthetic for hip, knee and other operations could help cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study.
Drugs used for general anaesthetics contain greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide, which can stay in the atmosphere for up to 114 years and contribute to global warming.
Switching the one million annual hip and knee replacement operations in the United States to local anaesthetic would save the equivalent of 7.3 million miles driven in a car, according to the study, which was based on a one-year experiment at a hospital in New York and published in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.
Surgeons at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York carried out 96 per cent of their hip and knee replacements using local anaesthesia in 2019, and estimated they saved the equivalent of 60,500 car miles.
That compared to an average of 75 per cent normally done under general anesthesia.
Although the greenhouse gases used in anaesthesia last just a fraction of the time in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide, some are thousands of times more potent, and scientists say reducing the impact on the environment in the near future is crucial.
Anaesthetic gases account for between 50-60 per cent of the carbon footprint of an operating theatre in the US as less than 5 per cent of the gases are inhaled by the patient, leaving the rest to enter the atmosphere.
The study also highlighted that local anaesthetic is often preferable in terms of giving patients a shorter hospital stay, more effective pain relief and fewer side effects, although its authors acknowledged it is not always suitable.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
With everything else right now, I guess to get attention the AGW people have to go even crazier
Why not a shot of whiskey and a stick to bite on?
Good...let’s add in all GENDER TRANSITION SURGERIES to the mix with only local anesthetic.
Maybe just biting a bullet would be a good idea, except that bullets kill people.
How about a bottle of whiskey? never mind, lots of waste in the fermentation process; and any unused alcohol evaporates.
This is a good example of the idle class performing its primary function of finding/creating additional problems. Re-education camps would give them something useful to do.
So the equivalent of 7.3 miles per operation. You would save more just by making the patient walk home.
How many people will remain calm when the Dr starts in on their bone with a power drill and then pounds the implant home with a hammer?
insanity!
Why stop there?
Don’t use any at all!........................
What kind of car...Tesla?
“Good...let’s add in all GENDER TRANSITION SURGERIES to the mix with only local anesthetic.”
Why use any at all? This will help “toughen them up” for their post operation lives.
I did and the scariest part was the sounds!!!!!!!!
Unless you are a qualified surgeon would suggest you get lost.
and you better be in top physical condition.
Surgeons at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York carried out 96 per cent of their hip and knee replacements using local anaesthesia in 2019, and estimated they saved the equivalent of 60,500 car miles.
...
Minuscule savings, but the real news is they are already using local anesthesia in most cases.
I remember W Bush got a knee replacement a few years ago as an outpatient.
“...nitrous oxide, which can stay in the atmosphere for up to 114 years...”
I had 3 hip replacements. My knee replacement was video/documented for teaching purposes. These operations are brutal! This isn’t a tooth filling!
In all seriousness, general anesthesia is not without risk, so if this actually works, it’s a good idea. But I can hardly think that the primary benefit is emissions related.
2 by 4 anesthesia, administered as needed.. would be an advancement in their line of work.
“...nitrous oxide, which can stay in the atmosphere for up to 114 years...”
“Not a century or a ‘long time’ but 114 years. That precision shows it’s science!”
actually, it’s 113.9427 years.
Well the vast majority of people getting this operation are elderly. So let’s just screw them over some more.
How many people will remain calm when the Dr starts in on their bone with a power drill and then pounds the implant home with a hammer?
...
They can still use sedation like Propofol so the patient will be unaware, won’t give a darn, and have no memory of the procedure. General anesthesia is best avoided whenever possible, regardless of the global warming nonsense, because it can have serious complications, including death.
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