Trace concentrations of anesthetic gases.

The epidemiologic surveys which predict morbidity for OR personnel are seriously flawed. The more carefully designed mortality studies which were based on examination of death certificates and medical records, and in one case was a prospective study, find anesthesiologists to be a healthy group with lower mortality rates than their peers and unexceptionable levels of neoplastic disease. The animal studies show that near clinical levels of anesthetics are needed during gestation to cause reproductive problems. Other animal studies show that repeated exposures to high subclinical levels of anesthetics cause no increased incidence of neoplasia. To the question: "Do traces of anesthetics present an occupational health hazard to operating room personnel?", the acceptable available evidence requires a negative answer.