A method is described whereby major surgery can be accomplished without inhalational anaesthetic agents, thus completely eliminating operating room pollution.
The method is based on the balanced use of three intravenous agents — morphine, alcuronium and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB). In the dose chosen for GHB, reliable unconsciousness can be produced for surgery of any length, and using physostigmine as an antidote, patients can be wakened within ten minutes.
The advantages are convenience, simplicity of equipment, low cost, absence of pollution and good patient acceptance.
The disadvantages are a certain incidence of hypertension and in this series, a small failure rate with the antidote.
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