Anaesthetic Machine & Monitoring Equipment Flashcards
What is the primary gas used in anaesthesia?
Oxygen
What percentage of inspired oxygen is required by healthy small animals to maintain oxygen saturation during GA?
33%
What colour coding on a cylinder indicates oxygen?
White
What can cause absorption atelectasis?
High inspired fraction of oxygen
What colour coding on a cylinder indicates medical air?
Black and White
What were the benefits of using nitrous oxide?
Analgesic effects
Reduction in inhalational anaesthetic requirements
What colour coding on a cylinder indicates nitrous oxide?
Blue
What are gas cylinders usually made of?
Molybdenum steel
What pressure and what form is oxygen stored at?
A compressed gas with a pressure of 13700kPa
What pressure and what form is nitrous oxide stored at?
Liquid at a pressure of 4400kPa
What is used to ensure the correct cylinders get connected to the correct outlet on the machine?
Pin Index System
What must be placed between the anaesthetic machine yolk and the cylinder?
Bodok Seal (a compressable sealing washer)
Why are cylinders opened slowly?
To prevent rapid release of pressure and therefore generation of heat
What is present to prevent loss of gas from an empty yoke?
Backflow check valve (a one way valve)
How/where is liquid oxygen stored?
Stored in a vacuum insulated evaporator (VIE) at a very low temperature of -150 to -170 celcius and a high pressure of 500-1000kPa
What can be used to supply oxygen to a single patient?
Oxygen concentrators
What do we need to be careful of when using a circle with an oxygen concentrator?
Build up of argon - not filtered out by zeolite sieves.
What is the pressure of a piped oxygen supply?
400kPa
What two safety features ensure piped gases get connected to the correct outlets?
Schraeder probe - a collar around the hose that has a specific diameter for that pipeline’s terminal.
Non-interchangeable screw thread (NIST) attaches the hose to the anaesthetic machine.
What changes the pressure of oxygen from 13700kPa in the cylinder to 400kPa in the gasline?
Pressure regluator
What is the function of the flow control valve on a flowmeter?
To reduce the pressure of the gas from 400kPa to just to just above atmospheric pressure (1-8kPa)
What happens when the oxygen flush button is used?
flowmeter and vapouriser are by-passed, the oxygen is delivered at a flow rate of 30-70L/minute at a pressure of 400kPa direct from the oxygen source.
What three measures are the in an anaesthetic machine to prevent hypoxic gas being delivered?
- Oxygen Fail safe
- Oxygen failure alarm
- Hypoxic guard
What does an oxygen fail safe do?
Cuts off the delivery of nitrous oxide when oxygen pressure and flow falls.
What is a hypoxic guard?
Prevents the delivery of hypoxic gas mixture with oxygen less than 25%.
What is the difference between a plenum vaporiser and a draw-over vaporiser?
Plenum - or pressurised - vaporiser is where gas is ‘pushed’ through under positive pressure from the FGF. Draw-over vaporisers ‘pull’ the gas over the open jar-type vaporiser.
What are present in the vaporiser to increase surface area and improve efficiency?
Wicks and Baffles
What mechanisms does a vaporiser have to ensure its internal temp is maintained?
- Made from copper and brass which acts as a heat sink
- A bimetallic strip - alters the proportion of gas entering the chamber dependin gon temperature (called the temperature compensation mechanism).
Why should you not tilt the vaporiser?
Can cause inhalant anaesthetic liquid to enter the bypass chamber
What type of vaporiser would be required for desfurane and why?
Electronically controled, as desflurane has boiling point close to room temp.
What mechanisms are in place in the GA machine to stop damage from excessive pressures?
Non-return valve downstream of vaporiser to prevent backflow pressure and damage if gas outlet occluded. Also a pressure relief valve on the back bar that opens when pressure reaches 30-40kPa.
What size is the common gas outlet?
22mm male, 15mm female
What flow/pressure does the oxygen flush supply at?
35-75L/min directly from the oxygem source (usually 400kPa)
What is the maximum accepted waste gas exposure in ther UK for halothane, isoflurane, nitrous oxide and sevoflurane?
H- 10 ppm
I - 50ppm
NO - 100ppm
S - 60ppm
What does a passive scavenging cannister contain?
Charcoal
What pressure does the non-return pressure relief valve open on the back bar?
30kPa
How can oxygen be supplied?
- Compressed gas in cylinders
- Liquid in a vacuum insulated evaporator (VIE)
- generated in an oxygen concentrator
How does a plenum vaporiser ensure the desired percentage of volatile agent is delivered?
Thye have 2 chambers - a pressurised vaporising chamber within which the carrier gas becomes fully saturated with vapour, and a bypass chamber which has no anaesthetic agent in it. The proportion of carrier gas entering each chamber is controlled by the dial.
What factors influence how much volatile agent is vaporised?
- Temperature
- Surface Area
- FGF
- Tilting the vaporiser
Define Dead Space
The volume fo gas that is not involved in gas exchange. Gas exchange only occurs within the alveoli.
Define Tidal Volume
The volume of gas entering the lung with each inspiration
Define Minute volume
Volume of gas entering the lunch in each minute. TV X RR
If the patient is panting, what minute volume can you use?
200mls/kg/minute
Define Metabolic oxygen requirement
Amount of oxygen required each minute for metabolic processes
What are the estimated metabolic oxygen requirement for small animals and large animals?
Small - 10mls/kg/minute
Large - 5mls/kg/minute
Define Rebreathing
When the inspired gases reaching the alveoli contain more carbon dioxide than can be accounted for be mere re-inhalation from the patients dead space gas.
What is the function of an anaesthetic breathing system?
Used to connect the patient to the GA machine. To allow the delivery of oxygen and volatile agent and removal of waste volatile agent and CO2.
Why is removing CO2 from the expiratory breath important?
To prevent hypercapnia, and therefore prevent respiratory acidosis, sympathetic stimulation - tachycardia, hypervolaemia, tachypnoea and possibly cardiac arrthymias.