Second thoughts on halothane in neurosurgery.

IT IS NOW more than two years since ~he representatives of Canadian universities reported before the Society their initial ~tudies with halothane, and in the interim the pharmacology and clinical use of halofllane have been extensiv01y investigated. Though the cardiovascular effects a halotliane and of chloroform are strikingly sfla~flar, there is as yet no,'concrete 6vidence that halothane is a potential liver poison when administered with the ai~l of modem anaesthetic techniques (whose superiority to those available when chIoroform was first employec~ is obvious). It can be assumed, therefore, Haa I halothane merits a sec~e place in anaesthesia although it is open to ques~on whether future progress in anaesthesia d~pends upon the use of the volatile anaesthqtics, We have found halothane ~o be a valuable agent in neurosurgical anaesthesia, and report here some general impressions d~rived' from our experience with this agent.