Abstract
Fires in the Operating Room are more of a danger today as it was in past where cyclopropane or ether was usedbecause we now routinely use electrosurgical cautery in presence of fuel rich sources and oxidizers (air, oxygen and nitrous oxide). Now, with laser surgeries reaching more rapidly to our intuitionsthis risk is getting even larger. The effect of endotracheal tube being ignited while being ventilated by Oxygen and Nitrous oxide which essentially emit a blow torch is catastrophic. Although laparoscopic surgeries are done with carbon dioxide insufation which doesn’t support combustion, nitrous oxide diffuses intraabdominally and it gets easily mixed with bowel gases (methane and hydrogen) which can be ignited by cautery. These are a few examples of numerous sources of res in our OR.
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