Homocysteine After Nitrous Oxide Anesthesia

Launched by MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA · Jun 1, 2007

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Nitrous oxide - laughing gas - is a widely used anaesthetic gas with many favourable but also some dangerous properties. Among the latter is the increase in homocysteine levels after nitrous oxide (N2O) exposure by inhibition of enzymes in the vitamin B12 pathway. Elevated homocysteine levels have been found to be an independent risk factor for ischemic events and are associated with an increased risk for perioperative myocardial ischemia. If a patient carries one or more loss-of-function mutations in enzymes of the methionine/homocysteine/folate pathway he is at an increased risk for hyper...

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Patient scheduled for general anaesthesia (\> 2 hours)
• • Age \> 18 years
• • ASA status I-II
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Pregnancy
• • Age \< 18 years
• • contraindication against N2O: pneumothorax, mechanical bowel obstruction, middle ear occlusion, laparoscopic surgery
• • recent use of vitamin preps (B12, B6, folate)