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The effect on the anaesthetised rabbit of warming the breathing circuit with 40°C liquid

02 October 2020
11 mins read
Volume 25 · Issue 9

Abstract

During every surgical procedure, one of the aims is to reduce the risk of anaesthesia. Some factors can be influenced, such as core body temperature. The authors wanted to investigate a method that was cheap, efficient and also easy to use in everyday veterinary practice, as well as in more remote settings. The study examined the temperatures of 30 rabbits during inhalational anaesthesia, when using a facemask and T-piece circuit. The rabbits were put in three groups, with two groups inhaling the warmed gas mixture. The inhalational breathing circuit in these two groups was immersed in a 40 ± 1°C heated water chamber. The circuit was 60 cm in the first group and 80 cm in the second group. The third control group inhaled a gas mixture at ambient room temperature. The results indicated that the longer the piece of circuit that was warmed, the less the body temperature of the rabbit dropped. In the control group, at the 40th minute of anaesthesia, the average drop in body temperature was −1.28°C, while in the 60 cm heated group it was −0.65°C, and in the 80 cm heated group it was −0.27°C.

The aim of any anaesthetic is to induce anaesthesia safely and keep the patient stable and asleep throughout the procedure. To do this successfully, the anaesthetist wants to minimise risk factors wherever possible. Brodbelt (2009) thoroughly studied and published the mortality rates and the reasons for death in various species. While his studies showed that mortality from anaesthesia is 0.17% in dogs and 0.24% in cats, this percentage is higher in rabbits, namely 1.39%. This means that every 72nd rabbit out of 100 died during anaesthesia or within the following 48 hours; 6% died during induction, 30% during maintenance, and 64% in the postoperative phase. Over 60% of the postoperative deaths happened in the first 3 hours after the procedure. The study of Clark and Hall (1990) showed a higher mortality rate with 1 out of every 28 anaesthetised rabbit dying. Both studies show that the risk of anaesthesia is much higher in rabbits than it is in dogs and cats. This is important considering the fact that the rabbit is the third most commonly kept pet animal after dogs and cats (Brodbelt, 2009).

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