The Halothane reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Halothane

Halothane gas is an inhalation anaesthetic. Its systematic name is 2-Bromo-2-chloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane.

Once widely used in surgery, it has largely been replaced by isoflurane for human use. Halothane is still widely used in veterinary surgery because of its lower cost.

Halothane never showed any ill effects when used once on a patient. After multiple treatments with halothane, the chance grew however, that the patient would get severe liver damage and eventually die. This was due to the small fraction of the gas being metabolized in the body, building up toxic rest products. The flurane decendants were developed with aim to find anaestethic gases that wouldn't metabolize.

External links:

• http://ntp-db.niehs.nih.gov/NTP_Reports/NTP_Chem_H&S/NTP_Chem1/Radian151-67-7.txt

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