Metabolic Effects of Anesthesia in Man. IV. a Comparison of the Effects of Certain Anesthetic Agents on the Normal Liver

Abstract

THE toxic effects of chloroform on the liver are well known and feared. Studies on animals have suggested a similar role for other anesthetic agents, particularly the ethers. Goldschmidt, Ravdin and Lucké¹ showed that in dogs three hours of anesthesia with divinyl ether or chloroform produced central necrosis of the liver in a large proportion of the animals studied. Diethyl ether produced similar changes, not quite so severe or frequent. The same workers² showed the dangers inherent in translation of results from one species to another when they repeated these experiments in monkeys. Here they found histologic changes only with . . .