Anesthesia vaporizers are used for the administration of volatile anesthetics. These devices have evolved from simple masks used for open ether anesthesia, to modern electronically controlled vaporizers that are designed to deliver modern inhalation anesthetic agents. When fresh gas enters the vaporizer from the flow meters, it's split into two streams. One stream flows into the fresh gas bypass circuit, and the other stream flows through the vaporizing chamber where it is enriched with the vapor of the liquid anesthetic. Modern anesthesia vaporizers include a concentration control dial, bypass chamber, vaporizing chamber, and the filler port, and filler cap.
Most modern anesthesia vaporizers now include many safety features that help minimize hazards. Some of these features include keyed fillers that prevent filling each vaporizer with the wrong agent, low filling port to minimize overfilling, interlocks that prevent administration of more than one inhaled anesthetic agent simultaneously, and concentrations dials that increase or decrease outputs of the vapors. Over the years, many improvements have aided in the safe administration of these volatile anesthetics.
Did you know that ether was the first volatile agent that was used by John Snow's inhaler in 1847? Later, in 1890, a German physician and pathologist named Curt Theodor Schimmelbusch invented a mask that was used in the delivery of ether called the Schimmelbusch mask. It wasn't until later in the 1980s that big advancements were made and vaporizers were manufactured with features like temperature compensation, splitting ratios, and anti-spill measures.
Soma Tech Intl offers a wide range of anesthesia vaporizers. If you have any questions about any of our vaporizers or need a quick quote, call 1-800-GET-SOMA and one of our knowledgeable sales representatives will help you.