Environmental Exposure to Anesthetic Agents

Inhaled anesthetic gases are not teratogenic in man when used for general anesthesia, but in high doses they may be teratogenic in animals. Data describing pregnancy outcomes following occupational exposure to the environment of the operating rooms during pregnancy are conflicting. Most studies did not observe any increase in the rate of congenital anomalies but found increased spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, prematurity, low birthweight and possibly other complications of pregnancy, especially when working with nitrous oxide. This correlated with the lack of good scavenging systems. The retrospective nature of these studies and the fact that the concentrations of the inhaled anesthetics were not measured reduces value of these studies. It can be concluded that it is safe to use inhaled anesthetic agents in pregnancy, but the concentrations in the air should be monitored and should not exceed a certain so-called threshold limit value for each agent.