Glossary

The bottles contain the liquid form of the anesthetic gases. This liquid is poured into the vaporizers (background) which convert the liquid anesthetic into vapor. The patient breathes oxygen and anesthetic vapor. The vaporizer allows the anesthetist to control the amount of anesthetic gas the patient breathes in.

AKA: Gas

These medications are delivered as a gas that is breathed in. The potent inhaled anesthetics are stored as a liquid in a bottle. A vaporizer on the anesthesia machine vaporizes the liquid into a gas that is fed into the breathing circuit. The gas is absorbed from the lung and affects the brain to cause general anesthesia.

The inhaled anesthetics have distinct advantages including:

1] they reliably result in general anesthesia

2] patients wake up very quickly after the gas is turned off.